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Chapter Text

Tony Stark was sitting in a fast food restaurant and watched as a boy, who couldn't have been older than twelve, had already eaten four large burgers and was now preparing for the fifth.

His own burger has almost completely lost its warmth in the time he spend watching the boy. Tony didn't want to stare, at least not so obviously, but it was difficult to look away.

The boy ate like it was his first meal in days. In fact, he looked like it too. The clothes were too big on him and only made him look smaller than he already was. His hair was a wild mess of brown curls that when Tony first saw it, he immediately thought of a mother running after a child, with a brush at the ready to try and tame it.

Tony huffed a laugh at the thought, just a small sound under his breath, no one should have been able to hear it, but the boy's head shot up and his big brown eyes met those of Tony.

The boy all but froze, like a deer in headlights. He kind of looked like one, he thought. Tony was grateful the boy swallowed down his bite before his mouth fell open. A reaction the man had been used to since his youth. He was the Tony Stark, son of Maria and Howard Stark. There were few who didn't recognize him, especially ever since he created the Iron Man armor.

Tony could cite each and every sentence when fans decide to approach him; they always used the same words, it was almost funny if it didn't get annoying after so many years of repeating. Of course not everyone was a fan of his, some, rather than asking for a picture or autograth, preferred to throw insults at him. He could understand both sides. Tony Stark hasn't always been a hero.

He wondered which of the two the boy would be.

The boy looked around until his eyes fell on the five empty burger wrappers in front of him. Even from several tables away, Tony could see the blush creeping on his face.

As if the table was made of glass, the boy ever so slowely stood up, careful not to touch it. A bit of a weird behavior, but Tony blamed awe and nervousness for that. It's not everyday someone gets to meet him.

Tony mentally prepared himself for a fan meeting, a smile already at the ready as he got rid of any burger sauce that might still be on his face.

The boy picked up his bag, which looked rather worn, the strap it was hanging from seemes as if it would only take a slight breeze to make it snap. He put his tray and trash away before throwing one last look at Tony.

The man never once looked away, still waiting to be approached. The boy's hands gripped the strap of his bag like a lifeline. A second later the boy's eyes were directed towards the floor, at his shoes, Tony thought. Tony's eyes followed and he had to look twice to make sure he didn't see wrong. The boy's shoes, they were held together with duct tape.

The boy didn't look up while he made his way to the doors. Tony worried he might bump into someone or something but to his surprise the boy managed to avoid and collisions and made it out in one piece.

A little stunned at receiving such a reaction, Tony took the rest of his food and headed outside and into his car. For a moment he missed the days when he could get Happy to drive him everywhere.

On the way to the tower, his thoughts kept returning to the boy. He wasn't sure why, but something was bothering him about the whole ordeal.

It wasn't the first time someone saw him and ran, and it won't be the last, he was sure of it. That isn't what was bothering him.

"FRIDAY, be a dear and look up that kid for me."

Chapter Text

Peter would have liked to be swallowed by the ground. He finally meets Tony Stark and then he ruins it. That would have been his chance to ask for an autograph and ask the man all kinds of things. But, Peter stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, what if he was there because of Spider-Man?

No, no, that couldn't be. Peter had been calling himself that for less than a week, how could anyone have already found out his identity?

Okay, he kept walking, his costume really wasn't the best, actually not even a costume but just his old clothes and ski mask, just painted over.

What if Tony Stark wanted to talk to him? After all, the man was the genius of the century, along with Bruce Banner of course.

But, Peter stopped again, if Tony Stark was looking for Spider-Man, and Peter was Spider-Man, then he could talk to the man and maybe even meet the other Avengers. Just the idea of telling Ned and MJ about getting to be in the same room as the Black Widdow or Bruce Banner or Tony Stark was almost too much.

So it was decided; the next time Peter saw Tony Stark he would talk to him. Absolutely. No doubt. For sure.

But what if it was just a coincidence? No, then the man wouldn't have stared at him like that. Or would he?

And that's how the entire way from the fast food place up until Peter was finally home went. His thoughts constantly stopped and started again, and so did he, too. More than once people walked into him or yelled an insult for suddenly stopping right in front of them.

In fact, he was so deep in his own head that he tripped over his own feet a few times, it could have also been other peoples feet, he wasn't sure. When Peter got up the stairs and into his apartment, his pants had some new rips. At least the scratches heald quickly, leaving only a few bruises which, sadly, didn't heal any faster than before the bite.

"Peter, is that you?" Came his aunt's voice from somewhere in the apartmant.

"May, you'll never believe who I saw." Peter began, faster than his aunt could follow.

While Peter put his bag next to the small sofa, May came out of her bedroom in full nurse uniform.

"Can you tell me later? A colleague at work is sick and I have to cover for him." She stopped in front of the mirror in the hallway to put her hair in a quick, therefore messy, bun. Strands fell into her face, which she tried to tuck behind her ears but they didn't stay there. She blinked a lot, as if her eyes actually needed a bit more time to fully wake up while her body was already working at full speed.

"Isn't today your day off?" Peter remembered exactly how relieved May sounded the previous day when she finally came home late in the evening. She had almost caught him in his costume when she checked on him before going to bed, too. She muttered to herself what she had planned for the next day.

"Well, not anymore." She rummaged through her bag, checking to make sure she had everything. "There's still chinese food in the fridge. And don't wait for me, I probably won't be home until tonight."

As she passed, she pressed a kiss to his head. Before Peter could say that it was unfair to her, she was already out the door.

She didn't even look at him.

Peter was now alone in the apartment. At least he wasn't thinking about Tony Stark anymore.

He grabbed his bag and dragged it behind him into his room where he collapsed face first onto his bed. He grumbled into his blanket for a moment until he lost interest and rolled over onto his back.

Just a few minutes ago he was so excited. Even if it bothered him, he shouldn't be angry with May. It wasn't her fault that she had to go to work. If he were in her situation, he would probably do the same thing. He didn't even know if May had a choice if she wanted to work or not.

His eyes wandered across his bedroom ceiling. They immediately settled on the compartment where his costume was hidden in.

When May wasn't there anyway, he might as well go on patrol.

Chapter Text

Although summer was right around the corner, as soon as the sun was down the air turned as cold as a winters day. Peter's suit also wasn't very warm. He needed it to be thin for maximum movement. Maybe he could built in some kind of heater.

While Peter thought about a way to make his suit cold resistant, he missed to notice someone else sneaking onto the rooftop.

He did finally notice, however, when his Spider-Sense made him move to the side on instinct. The same Moment a dart flew right past where he just sat.

Almost losing his balance, Peter managed stay on top of the roof. When he finally turned around another dart was already flying his way. This one he caught in his hand, before it could puncture his him.

When looking up, he saw a person dressed in all black from head to toe.

"Excuse me, I think you lost this." He said while holding out the dart.

The mysterious person did not seem eager for a chat and instead shot another dart.

Now alert to his situation, it was quite easy for Peter to dodge the dart they send his way.

"You know, sneaking up on people is considered rude." The person just kept firing darts. "How about we introduce ourselves to each other before we attack?" They kept shooting. "All righty then. Well, I'm your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. And who are you?"

The darts stopped for a moment. Hope rose in Peter that the mysterious dart shooter would actually introduce themselves. His hope disappear when the got another weapon from their back, this one looked a bit different, especially bigger.

When they shot the next time it wasn't darts that came towards Peter, but a cloud that smelled weirdly like lemons.

"Oh, no!" Exclaimed Peter. "You found my weakness," He started coughing and holding his throat. "The fresh smell of lemons! Now my time has come, I will meet the great lemon in the sky and become part of the eternal lemonade!" He stumbled near the edge of the rooftop. "Tell the taco lady on 5th I love her." He said before dramatically falling over the edge.

The person in ran towards the edge, looking down. The street below was empty.

"For some reason I crave a glass on lemonade. Do you have any idea why that is?"

The person turned around to see Spider-Man fidget with their dart gun.

"You know, if you don't tell me your name I'm gonna call you Lemony."

He expected a fight, but Lemony opted to run instead. Peter ran after them, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. For some time he was able to keep up rather easy, then, from one rooftop to the next, they suddenly disappeared.

Weird, thought Peter, did they think he was an actual spider? Why cover someone in a cloud of lemon? Now he just really wanted lemonade. Maybe he could get some somewhere.

Peter looked around. Most stores had already closed for the night. He could probably stop at a 24 hour store, but time he entered one of those did not end very well.

Maybe it was time to go home.

Chapter Text

"Peter, if you don't get ready right now, you will be late for school!" May yelled through his bedroom door.

Maybe he was a bit too long outside. Then he tried to get rid of the Lemon smell, but whatever he tried, how hard he scrubbed his skin, the smell did not leave his body. At least it wasn't rotten tomatoes, he told himself.

"I'm up." He groggily called back to his aunt. He wondered when she came home. He didn't see her car when he came back from patrol.

Some time later, and with another hole in his shirt, because it just wouldn't let his arm through the hole, he finally came out of his room. May already stood at the door, too focused on her phone to notice Peter grew about two inches since last week. He hoped he might grow another eight, at least then he could reach average height for his age.

"Peter, if you're not at the door in one minute I will leave without you!" May yelled.

"I'm here, I'm here, we can go."

May opened the door to let Peter go first. She stopped for a second.

"Do you smell that?" She asked?

"Uhm, nope, I don't smell anything." He laughed awkwardly. Before May could say more Peter started running down the stairs. His aunt shrugged, closed the door and walked after him.

In the car she asked again.

"I swear I can smell Lemons." She started sniffing the air around her.

"Oh! oh, yeah I am wearing this new deodorant. Do you like it?"

"New deodorant? I thought you tried to save money."

"I am!" Peter said a bit too loud.

"Then why buy new things when we already have everything? I just got you deodorant two weeks ago." She frowned.

"You did, I just wanted some change now and then, you know?" He could just get a shovel and start digging his own grave already.

"Peter," She sighed. "That deodorant was really expensive."

"I will still use it, don't worry." He tried to smile and finally she looked at him, then back at the street. He could see his school already.

"Alright, whatever," She stopped in front of the school. "Have a nice day sweetie, love you."

"Love you, too, May." He said as he left her car. He had barely closed the door when May already sped up again.

I made her late, he thought.

Turning around he looked at the crowd of teenagers in front of the school.

He his phone out of his pocket. There was already a text from Ned asking if Peter overslept.

With a small smile he put his phone away and made his way into the building. Now and then saw someone look at his shoes or he rip on his sleeve. He really had to get the hang of his strength or people will think he is even poorer than he already was.

It's not that they can't afford new clothe for him, they could, but when he hears May this upset about a deodorant that doesn't even exist, how is he supposed to tell her he needs new clothes. And as long as he can't control he strength anyway, it wouldn't make sense to get new things. He would just break them within a week.

He tried sewing a few holes shut of patch them up, but so far he mostly sows his own fingers to the clothes than actually making any progress.

"Hey, Pete!" Peter looked up to see Ned already waiting at his Locker for him. His best friend looked like he was about to burst with excitement and Peter couldn't wait to here what it was this time. Usually Ned would tell him about a new fact he found out about one of the avengers or what they plan for the next Star Wars movie or show. Sometimes he would just talk about something that happened to him specifically. But no matter what it was, Ned was always so enthusiastic about everything it made Peter's day ten times better.

"Hey, Ned, what's up?" He asked going to his locker to get the books for their first class.

"Oh nothing, just a completely new Super Hero!" Ned almost yelled.

Peter accidentally clenched a bit too hard on his locker's lock. It was so dented he couldn't m anymore. Absolutely not panicking, he tried it with a bit more force, because that could not go wrong at all.

"Someone got a video of this guy in a weird suit walking on the side of a building!" Ned continued, oblivious to Peter's predicament. "He was talking to this dude in all black who tried to shoot him but the hero dude dodged every bullet!"

Ned was now scrolling on his phone, probably trying to find the video while Peter tried to reattach the wheel to the lock.

"The other dude then covered the hero dude in some cloud and he fell off the side of the building and that is when this happened!" Ned shoved his phone in front of Peter's face.

In the video Peter saw himself land on a windowsill and then running on the side of the building, like it was on the ground, to the other side and climb up behind Lemony.

"Wow, yeah, this is really cool." He said, not very convincing apparently, because Ned stopped and looked at him weird.

"Dude, you okay?" He asked. "This is a completely new hero no one has yet seen or heard of and you don't care?" He put a hand on Peter's forehead.

Peter didn't bother to move away, especially because Ned would absolutely see the broken lock if he moved even a bit.

"You don't have a fever." He paused. "Do you also smell lemon?"

"Sorry, Ned, just a bit distracted today, woke up with the wrong leg and all." He finally decided to give up. Peter Gripped the lock firmly in one hand and hold into the locker with the other. When Ned looked away for a second he ripped the lock off and swiftly put it into his pocket. At least his locker was finally open.

"Why, did something happen?" Peter felt bad that his inattentiveness had taken away Ned's enthusiasm of the morning, he had to think about something, and fast.

"Uhm, yeah, actually," He looked around, hoping for something to come to mind. And then he saw Howard Stark's panting at the end of the hallway. "Ned!" He exclaimed.

"What? What happened?"

"I met Tony Stark."

Chapter Text

"Why?!"

Peter and Ned were about to sit down in their next class. Peter told the story of how he met Tony Stark the previous day and possibly completely humiliated himself. When he was done, Ned practically screamed at him for answers.

"This is a once in a lifetime chance!" He told Peter.

"I know."

"And you totally blew it!"

"I know."

"Tony Stark!"

"Ned, trust me, I know." He will think about that situation for the rest of his life. He will probably never see the man again. Even if he did, Tony Stark is such an important figure, he won't even remember Peter.

Seeing the frustrated look on Peter's face, Ned decided to drop the subject. He was about to start talking about the new hero when their teacher walked into the classroom.

For Peter it felt like two minutes passed, he blinked and the class was already over. He shook his head in confusion. Did he fall asleep? He didn't think a late patrol would have that much of an affect on him.

In the hall Ned and Peter said their goodbyes. They wouldn't meet until lunch a few hours later. The thought alone made Peter's stomach grumble. He forgot to eat breakfast.

In the next class, his empty stomach made it a bit difficult to listen, but at least he didn't fall asleep again.

One more class before lunch, two more trips to his locker and then he could finally eat something. Peter thought back to the burgers he had the day before. Maybe he could go there again  school. But he told May he was saving up.

Another time then. At his locker he wasn't really surprised to see it already opened. The broken lock was heavy in his pocket. If anyone found out it was him who broke it, they will make May pay for the damage.

Too much time spend thinking made him forget the time. The bell rang and he still hadn't switched his books. It took him forever to the one he needed.

Already late, Peter thought about running. There were still a lot of other people in the halls who could see him. He couldn't risk that. So being even more late it was.

When he finally made it to his class, he opened the door and was about to apologize when the Speakers rattled.

"Mr. Peter Parker, please come to the principal's office immediately."

The students and teacher looked at him.

"You shouldn't make the principal wait, Mr. Parker." Said the teacher.

Peter sighed before closing the door again and making his way to the principal's office.

I mean, he thought, how bad could it be? He was late once, before this at least. Now he was late twice, but they couldn't already know about this, could they?

He thought about any and everything he might have done that would grant him a talk wit the principal.

Please don't take my scholarship. Please don't take my Scholarship. He repeated in his mind all the way to the office.

One deep breath later he was already knocking on the door.

"Come in."

Slowly he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

For a moment he doesn't say anything, because instead of just meeting his principal there is another person in the office. With an open mouth he stood there.

"Oh, Mr. Parker, good to see you." Mr. Morita said, although his face looked a bit weird. Maybe it was the man in the room that made him uncomfortable, or maybe it was Peter's appearance. Probably a bit of both. "Who would have thought a student of our school to be given this opportunity. You must be very proud."

That woke Peter from his frozen state.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what is going on."

Mr. Morita opened his mouth only to be interrupted by the other man.

"Well, Mr Parker," Said the man. "I assume you know who I am."

Peter nodded and immediately started talking.

"Of course Mr. Stark, who would not know who you are? You are one of the geniuses of this generation, not to mention your work as an Avenger as well. It is an honour to meet you, sir." The man flashed a quick smile.

"I also assume that you know that Stark Industries gives internships to all those I deem acceptable to work for me."

Really, who did not know this? Peter thought. As soon as Peter would go to college he planned on requesting an internship. The probability of him actually getting accepted was slim, so f course it was all mostly a fantasy.

Now the Tony Stark stood before him, talking about exactly that internship Peter would give a kidney for to get the opportunity to get one.

"Mr. Parker, I was impressed with your abilities so far shown at this school and would like to offer you an Internship at Stark Industustries."

Peter feared his brain malfunctioned. There is no way this is real.

"I thought only college students could apply."

"That is true, Mr. Parker," Said Mr. Morita. "Which is why this is a very important opportunity for someone like you." He caught, not very convincing. "I mean for a High School Student."

Even through the sunglasses, Peter could make out Mr. Stark looking annoyed at his principal.

"What do you say, Mr Parker, do you accept?"

"Absolutely! Yes! Mr. Stark, this is the best day of my life, thank you so, so much, I won't disappoint you."

"Alright, we'll send you the details."

Chapter Text

When Ned saw Peter in the cafeteria, he immediately knew something was up.

"Dude, what happened? Heard you had to go to the principal."

Peter sat next to him, wide eyes staring ahead of him.

"Ned," He said, finally looking at his friend. "Tony Stark gave me an internship."

Ned sprang up from his seat to grip Peter by his shoulders, shaking the boy.

"Are you serious? Please tell me you are serious right now, because I will not forgive you if you are messing with me."

"I am serious."

"Dude," Ned sat back down. Now both looked ahead into nothingness. "How?" He asked.

"'How' what?" Both boys jumped in their seats when MJ suddenly appeared in front of them, already eating the food from the plate. They haven't noticed her sitting down.

"Peter got offered an internship with Tony Stark!" Ned's voice got all high in his excitement to tell their friend.

"You accepted?" She asked. Peter nodded. "Of course you did."

"Why wouldn't he accept? Who in their right mind says no to Tony Stark himself?"

"The man did spend most of his career building weapons that are around until todays, causing hundreds of thousands of people their lives. Not only those fighting the wars, but also the innocent families caught in the crossfire."

"I understand that he did a lot of horrible things," Peter said. "But I trust that he truly changed who he is."

"And who would that be, Peter, who is Tony Stark today?" She squinted her eyes at him.

"Ironman, of course, the protector of he world!" Exclaimed Ned.

"If by 'world' you mean New York, and if by 'protector' you mean being partially the cause of most dangers that would need his suit for saving, then yes."

It was silent for a moment. MJ did a lot of research into Tony Stark and his work. She is well educated in his failures and mistakes over pretty much all of his career.

She reminds him of his aunt sometimes. May also didn't have the best of opinions towards the billionaire. He understands her reasons, although it did happen years ago and it wasn't her or Ben that were in immediate danger, and it was the man himself you rescued Peter. But then again, if Tony Stark never invented the Ironmen armour, then no one would have created the drones.

"Look," Said Peter. "If Tony Stark truly is a monster and he is only changing and going for clean energy, and trying to get rid of his weapons being sold on the black market, etc. all just for PR, then I can be your informant and you can write a paper about it all and expose him. What do you say?"

MJ thought for a second.

"If you can get me a meeting with Virginia Potts, too, then we have a deal."

"I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises, you know. Just an intern."

"We'll see." With that she went back to her food and a book she got from apparently thin air.

Ned got his attention by poking him in the shoulder repeatedly. When Peter finally looked at his friend, the look on his face was pure betrayal.

"You promise her a meeting with the Virginia Potts, but I get not even half the story of how you even got the internship? I am outraged! I thought you were my best friend!"

"Ned," He took his friends hands in his. "I, Peter Parkour, promise you, Nedward Leeds, to tell you every last detail, no matter the insignificance of it. You want to know how Mr. Stark drinks his coffee, I will tell you. You want to know if he ever takes off his sunglasses or if they are grown to his head, I will tell you. Always remember that there is nothing I would not share with you, my bestest of friends."

"Oh, Peter," Ned wiped an imaginary tear away. "How could I have ever doubted the truest of friends, you who is named after the Park of ours."

The two boys hugged and dramatically cried into each other's shoulders trying not to laugh.

Peter meant every word he said, no matter the absurdity he played it with. Which made it only worse that there is one thing he still hasn't told anyone and doesn't know if he ever could, not even Ned.

Chapter Text

Tony Stark entered his lab. The screens immediately lid up with the profile of one Peter Benjamin Parker.

According to this the boy was already in his second year of High School. Not only was he just another student, he was the best in his year.

A bit more research into the boy's family told Tony he lived with his aunt who worked as a nurse. His parents died in a plane crash when he was only four years old and his last blood relative, his uncle, who his parents were so close to as to name their child after, has died just a few weeks ago.

This kid really couldn't get a break it seemed.

Tony thought about the boy's appearance, ripped and dirty clothes, his shoes hold together by nothing other than tape and willpower. Considering he also ate like he was starving Tony wondered what exactly is going on at the kid's home.

Of course, his aunt has just lost her husband, but he would still expect her to take care of the child that she was entrusted with.

The worry for this boy only grew in Tony the more he found out. An apparent genius kid orphaned at a young age, haunted by the death of his family members, possibly neglected by his guardian and still having the burden of not losing his scholarship during all this.

"Tony, you promised me to go to this meeting." Pepper Potts burst into his lab, voice loud. "After twenty minutes of waiting for you I had to step in because no one could reach you. Just because you made me CEO of your company does not mean you get to miss meetings." She crossed the room to where Tony was still staring at the screen. "Who's this?" She asked. He could already see the frown on her face before turning around.

"A weird kid I saw today." He answered as if it were complete normal to look up kids you happen to see and find weird.

"Tony," She said in that warning tone only she and Rhodey would dare to use on him. "Why are you stalking a," She looked at the birth date. "A 14 year old?"

"I wouldn't call it stalking, Pep, just looking into something."

"That something is a child. I can already see the restraining order when his parents find out, this is strange behaviour, even for you. And I will be the one having to deal with it, too."

"I am worried what kind of picture you actually have of me Ms. Potts." Tony said before uning towards the monitor again. "Also we won't have to worry about his parents, kid is an orphan living with his aunt."

"Oh, poor boy." She leaned over the backrest of Tony's chair. " But that does not explain why exactly you are stalking him."

"I saw this kid, Peter, today. He was gulfing down five burgers in one sitting and still looked like he was starving. His clothes also didn't help his image, all torn and patched up with tape." Tony scratched his beard. "When he saw me he looked scared and practically ran."

"I admit, that is a bit concerning."

"Something about him just doesn't feel right." He felt Pepper card a hand through his hair, careful to not ruin it.

"I understand that you're worried about this kid, but there is nothing we can do." When Tony didn't respond she continued. "Maybe he was just being a teenager caught off guard by meeting Ironman?"

"You always know what to say." He smiled up at her. "Have I told you just how brilliant and wonderful you are?"

"Don't even try to get out of this, I am still mad at you for missing that meeting." She straightened before making her way to leave the lab. "Don't be down here too long, you also need sleep." Then the doors closed behind her, leaving Tony alone.

He stared at the screens, reading over the boy's family history and school records again and again. Maybe there was a way to help him.

Chapter Text

He had about two hours before Pepper found out about this. At least she couldn't be mad at what he did, it was for a good cause. At least that is what Tony told himself. t could have very well all just been to ease his own anxiety about hypotheticals running over and other in his head.

When he saw Peter in that office he looked even worse than the day before. His clothes may have been a bit cleaner but still had holes here and there. He also wore the same shoes that Tony worried would fall off his feet with every step he took. Maybe the kid glued them to his socks.

The boy was thin and small for his age, but so was Tony, no need to immediately assume his aunt was starving him, on purpose or other.

Tony also wasn't sure when the last time the kid slept was. The dark circles under his eyes did not make him look any healthier.

At least he could confirm that Peter was not scared of or hated him, seeing as he was overjoyed by the opportunity to attend an internship at Stark Industries.

His phone ringing interrupted Tony's thoughts.

"The love of my life, what can I do for you?" He answered his phone.

"What is this I hear about an internship for a High School student?" Pepper did not sound very happy. Not that Tony expected her to be.

"Are you talking about the Parker kid?"

"What other kid would I be talking about, Tony?"

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about, I went through all of the kid's school records."

"Please explain why you stalking this boy further would make me worry less?"

"Because this kid is a genius, and I am not just saying that for you to be less mad at me. Peter Parker has had perfect grades since forever, all his teachers are praising him in everything he does. I took this as an opportunity to teach this kid early on and possibly make give him a good future in engineering."

"Tony, Stark Industries only offers Internships to College students because they are over eighteen years old and able to make their own decisions. Did you at least talk to his guardians beforehand?" Her voice began to sound more tired than angry now. Tony took that as a good sign.

"Guardian, singular, actually. But no, I did not have the opportunity to meet with May Parker yet."

"You asked a minor before contacting their guardian?" Back to angry.

"No need to worry, Pep, I am already on my way to her workplace. When she hears just how much Peter wants to do this internship she couldn't possibly say no, have you seen the picture? He looks like a deer."

"Why, Tony? Why do I even care anymore? Apparently you have everything under control, or something like it. Call me back and let me know when she will sue us." With that she ended the call.

Tony admits this is not the best way to handle the situation, but he had to see the kid at least once before talking to May Parker. The boy did not look too good, but he did not seem in immediate danger from his guardian. Otherwise he would not have said yes so enthusiastically. At least Tony hoped that was the case.

Tony drove into the parking space of the hospital May Parker worked at. For a moment he just sat in his car.

If he waited until later in the day, he could instead meet her at her apartment and talk things over there. That way he could get a good look at their living situation and also see how the two of them interact with each other.

He shook his head. That could actually get him a lawsuit.

Exiting his car and making his way into the hospital was not too bad, most people were concerned with themselves and their loved ones, not noticing the billionaire walking past.

At the reception he stopped.

"Would it be possible to talk to May Parker? She is one of the nurses working here." He kept his voice nice with his paparazzi smile already on his face.

The nurse at the reception looked up, stopped for a second, then told him to please sit down while he waited for May.

It took quite some time. No wonder, Tony wondered how many people there where that needed help and or assistance in this hospital.

When May finally walked up to the nurse Tony had talked to before she looked a bit out of breath as if she had ran all the way there. She wore a dark green nurse uniform, her hair worn in a bun that probably looked tidier when she first did it than now.

The nurse pointed in Tony's direction and May turned around to see him. She obviously tried to not show it but he could tell she was not impressed with his request to talk to her. Surprised? Who wouldn't? Happy? Absolutely not.

"Mr. Stark, you wanted to talk to me?" She asked.

"Yes, I would like to discuss an Internship for your nephew with you, if you have the time, that is."

"Uhm, actually, I am quite buisy."

"Oh, don't worry, we got it covered. Go talk with him." Called the other nurse. May's shoulders tensed. She crossed her arms over her chest, but signaled him to follow her anyways.

She led him into an empty room with a long table and multiple chairs. The meeting room.

May walked into the room and stopped next to one of the chairs, but did not sit down.

"You wanted to talk about something concerning Peter?" Her arms tightened ever so slightly around her, a frown now on her face. It didn't take a genius to see she did not like him.

"That's right, I have been made aware of Peter's excelent school performence and am very impressed with everything he has done so far. Usually we only offer this to older students, above the age of eighteen, but seeing what Peter is capable of convinced me to make an exception."

"Aren't there other child geniuses that could profit from this other than Peter?"

"If so, then I have not noticed yet. Right now I know that Peter promises a bright future that I could help him achief with the internship."

She opened her mouth, then closed it. She took a minute to think, now and then looking at the man.

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"And why is that? I can assure you, this internship would only improve Peter's already wide knowledge concerning the engineering world."

"That I understand. What I am unsure about is his savety. Can you guarantee he will come home unscathed. Won't these labs be filled with dangerous materials and machinary? What about an experiment gone wrong and, I don't know, explode in his face? I do not want to put my nephew in any danger!" Now she sounded angry.

"In the internship he would be taught what is and isn't dangerous to use or be around, and how to act accordingly. Also, the entire building is being watched by my own AI that takes care of each and every employee, student, and visitor. Other than that there will alawys be a supervisor nearby. You have nothing to worry about, Mrs. Parker."

Her jaw tensed for a moment. Her arms fell down to her sides. She seemed defeated in a way.

"Alright." She held out one hand for Tony to shake. He did not move.

"I don't shake hand." He said. Her hand fell back to her side again.

With a big sigh she said. "If he comes home with even the smalles of scratches, prepare for a lawsuit."

Chapter Text

Throughout the day Peter got more and more tired. In his last class he actually had to pinch his hand every few minutes to stay awake.

Now he was finally on his way home, walking past the amazing fast food place he was at yesterday and ignoring his grumbling stomach. He would be home within the next thirty minutes and could fall into his bed. When he sleeps, he doesn't have to care about food or clothes or lying to his best friend.

Almost there he suddenly hears a scream. It was the middle of the day and people were already going around mugging others?

Slipping into the next best dark corner he could find, Peter quickly changed into his Spider-Man suit. He hadn't washed it yet, he noticed when the smell of lemon practically assaulted his senses.

He really had to have a talk with lemony about this stuff.

Webbing his bag to a vent on a rooftop nearby he made his way towards where he heard the scream from.

When Peter found the place the mugger was already running away, not very fast, he might add. One well shot web and the guy was hanging from a street light.

Giving the stolen things back also went smooth. After Peter left a small note for the Police to find, he made his way back to the roof with his bag. It was still there, which did make him happy. What did not make him happy was someone else walking right towards it.

He shot yet another web to pull the bag towards him only for the other person to be faster than that.

"Hawkeye, stealing is not okay, thought you would know that." Peter said.

"So, this is your stuff?" The man asked, holding it up at angle, making peter fear for his student ID in an open side pocket.

"Yeah, so I would be extremely grateful if you'd give it back." He held both arms out, quietly asking for Hawkeye to throw it over.

Surprisingly the man did just that. Peter stumbled a bit, almost dropping his bag. He caught it upside down. Thankfully he closed it beforehand. Not so thankfully, he was a Parker and his luck was rarely on his side.

The button fell off, and with that his clothes and school books fell out of his bag, too.

"Need help with that?" Hawkeye asked.

"No! No, I'm all good. You go and shoot arrows at aliens and stuff, I got this." Peter worked fast in putting all his belongings back in his bag. Luckily the only thing that did not fall out was his student ID. Maybe he did have some luck after all.

Hawkeye looked at him for a moment. Peter hoped with all his might that the man did not notice any of his school books.

"Thought spiders hated citrus." Was what he decided to say after watching Peter hastily pack his bag for the last minute or so.

"Does everyone think I am a swarm of spiders under this?" He pulled at his suit. "Some guy sprayed me with lemon scent last night and I can't get rid of the smell." He admitted.

"You tried bathing in tomato soup?"

"That's for skunks." He paused. "Also, where would I get that much tomato soup? I would turn into one of those math problems 'Someone wants to buy a thousand cans of soup, how much in the volume of you hair when you sneeze?"

"Not a math fan I take it?" Hawkeye chuckled.

"If only you knew." Peter said. Finally everything stored more or less safely in his bag, peter got ready to leave. "It has been awesome meeting you Mr. Hawkeye, truly, I will tell my great great grandchildren about this encounter, but sadly I have to go."

Peter started running, his bag slung over his shoulder. When passing Hawkeye, he told him goodbye and jumped off the roof to swing the rest home using his webs.

As he swung over the streets he let out a whoop here and then because what are the odds of meeting both Tony Stark and Hawkeye in the span of two days?

Climbing through his window, peter was suddenly even more tired than during school. He barely got out of his suit and managed to hide it before collapsing into bed.

Chapter Text

The same day Peter woke up to a message from an unknown number. Half asleep and yet to fully wake up he looked at what he could make out to be a week planner marking Wednesday and Friday with the words 'Internship'.

Peter blinked slowly, turning his phone off again and ready to go back to sleep. Then what he saw finally registered and he jumped out of his bed. Again he looked at his phone, reading over the message again and again to confirm that he did not misunderstand. The pinches he gave his arms only made him more giddy.

Eyes still glued to the screen, peter easily dodged anything in his way as he walked towards his door, the only light was a street lamp outside his bedroom window.

"May!" He called without getting an answer. She must still be at work, he thought.

This time he decided to not get all mopey, but to instead call Ned.

He closed the message, seeing he had another one. This one was from May. The smile he didn't know he had on his face widened.

'Hey, sweetie, hope you are sitting down because I got some pretty good news for you!

Drumroll please...

You were offered an internship at Stark Industries!!'

It was nice that she acted like she didn't absolutely hate it. For a moment Peter wondered how she already knew about it, then he imagined a talk between his aunt and Mr. Stark. A cold shudder creeped down his spine. He wished to never be in the same room as both of them.

Scrolling through his contacts he found Ned's and called. It ringed a few times before he finally picked up.

"Dude, what's wrong?" He asked sounding groggy.

"Nothing wrong. Why, did something happen?" Has he missed another alien attack? Robots? Lemony spraying the entire city?

"It's the middle of the night, you gave me half a heart attack, dude." Now that explained why he sounded half asleep.

Peter checked the time, it was almost three in the morning. Had he really slept for that long?

"Sorry, didn't notice it was this late already. You should go back to sleep." He hung up before Ned had the chance to respond.

He was already awake, might as well go on patrol.

Putting his suit and climbing out his window Peter shivered as the cold night air reached him. Right, he wanted to put a heater in his suit.

Running from rooftop to rooftop helped waking him up fully. He internally apologized to Ned again, and kind of envied him too. Laying in a warm bed instead of freezing in this cold. But Ned couldn't say he saved people from muggings or met other superheroes. Well, Peter couldn't either or someone would find out his secret identity, but he could think about telling people. Just had to be careful not to say anything out loud.

Above a dark alley, peter came to a stop. In the shadows he could make out three sketchy looking individuals. This looked like a deal about to happen. Nothing big as he didn't see an car nearby, maybe it was just drugs.

He couldn't see any obvious weapons. Then again, who knew what was hidden in their pockets?

Peter felt like he was waiting forever when a fourth person arrived, very obviously looking for something to buy. One of the other guys pulled a small plastic bag from his pocket.

Being a bit extra, he flipped down into the alley landing in a super hero pose. It probably looked even cooler than it felt, if only he could tell Ned.

"Drugs are bad for you." Peter said. The plastic bag was way too small for a web, he would catch the guy's hand, too if he tried to take it from him that way. He sighed. The old fashioned way it was.

He waited for the guys to attack him first, which did not take long. The very obvious guy was the first to run at him, fist already drawn back.

"Four against one," He said as he dodged the obvious guy, grabbing him by the bag of his jacket. "A bit unfair, don't you think?" He asked, then shot multiple webs at obvious guy, gluing him to the wall to his right.

The original three, finally realizing this may not be as easy as they thought, slowly walked towards Peter. If he wasn't super humanly strong they would look extremely intimidating. One was about a foot taller than him. He took it back, they did look intimidating, even with super human powers.

The fight itself was going pretty okay. Thanks to his spider sense, Peter was able to not get hit even once. He made quick work of the second sketchy guy, the remaining two though did not seem to like that one bit.

Now, quite some bit more angry than before, their tries to hit Peter doubled.

While trying not to sport a black eye, he missed his spider sense warning him not about an incoming punch from one of the two, but another person sneaking up on him from behind.

One moment he was dodging every hit, the next he felt pain in his side. Ducking and sweeping his leg in a circle, causing all three people to fall to the ground, he was finally able to web all of them up. For the moment he ignored the pain in his side, he could take care of that later, for now he had to contact the police.

"Anyone got a phone?" He asked.

Of course, none of them answered. Some because they were kind of mad at him, some because he might have also webbed their mouths shut.

Going through the pockets of their jackets, ignoring the additional drugs he found there, he finally got ne of their phones. A quick call later and he left the five of them to wait for the cops.

Up on a rooftop a few blocks away he finally came to a stop to take a look at the constant pain in his side.

He looked down, hand ready to pull up the old hoodie.

"Oh," He said. "Rude."

That explained why a bruise hurt so much more than he was used to. Because it wasn't a fist that had hit him. There was a knife in his side.

Chapter Text

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," Peter repeated all the way back to May's apartment. Because he was about to panic and he couldn't panic, because if he panics he wouldn't know what would happen because there was a knife in his side.

It hurt with every movement, he would like to do nothing other than pull it out, but the voice of his aunt telling him to never remove an object from your body was unusually loud in his ears.

Worst of wall, he was getting dizzy. Peter couldn't tell if it was due to blood loss or adrenaline. Probably a bit of both.

He could see the street light in front of his bedroom window, already. How he made it this far, he could not tell, but that street light was the only thing keeping him going right about now. If he could reach the light, he could reach his bedroom. Right next to his bedroom was the bathroom in which he knew was a first aid kit.

Just keep walking, keep climbing.

The light grew closer.

Just a bit more, ignore the pain. Should he ignore the pain?

He has never been stabbed before, how was he supposed to know what was best for him in this situation? Everything he knew about stab wounds was what his aunt told him when they watched action movies and she got mad at the awful job the actors did for wound care.

He made it to the street lamp, now he only had to climb up to his window.

Maybe there was a tutorial on YouTube? Or WikiHow, they got tutorials for pretty much everything.

Just keep climbing, for now ignore the pain. Getting to that first aid kit was more imortant than his comfort. The difficult part wasn't even climbing, it was the not screaming and alerting his neighbours what seemed almost impossible.

Careful not to get stuck on the window, Peter finally got into his room.

A few more steps and he would get to that first aid kit.

He was never so grateful his aunt worked a double shift before. He did not know how to explain this to her. She would probably ground him for eternity. She also wouldn't allow him to take that internship.

Now that was motivation to stay alive and take care of that knife.

Making it to the bathroom, he immediately dove for the cabinet under the sink. A white bag has never looked so beautiful.

Collapsing next to the bathtub, he opened the kit, trying to figure out what he might need.

How difficult could this be? He asked himself. All he had to do was remove the knife, sow the wound shut and bandage it. Sounds easy enough. Probably.

It was not as easy as he tried to make himself believe. It took him a few tries, a lot of tears, but finally he was done.

He was still dizzy, but probably from the pain more than the blood loss. Standing up from the bathroom floor, using the tub to lean on, he looked at himself in the mirror.

Could have been worse, he thought. The bandage looked good, he was alive and not actively dying. He took that as a win.

Peter: 1

Knife: 0

He chuckled to himself. He was stronger than a knife.

Looking around the bathroom he groaned. There was so much to clean up. He had to somehow get rif of everything he used without May finding it, and then was all the blood he had to clean up before she came home.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket he looked at the time. Just past five. He had enough time to clean up and get ready for school.

Carrying a bucket full of water wasn't his smarted idea, but if he wanted to clean up before May ended what the knife started, then he had to grit his teeth and get this done.

Finished with the bathroom he checked the hall. Of course there was a track leading right to his room. He made quick work of that, too.

When he got to his room he looked at his floor, half of it covered in clothes and sighed. Of course he also got blood on some of them. So not only does he have to hide the medical stuff he used, but also he has to convince May to wash his own clothes. Maybe she'll let him if she thinks it's art of him growing up?

He was going to turn 15 in just a few months, it wouldn't be too uncommon for him to take care of his own clothes and what not. It would take some work off of May's back, too. A win-win situation.

He was about to get his clothes to the washing machine when the front door opened.

"Peter?" He heard his aunt.

He looked down at himself, the only thing covering him was his Spider-Man pants and the bandages around his middle. If May saw him like this she would freak.

Thinking quickly Peter threw the mountain of clothes he was just carrying over the last bit of blood he still had to clean up. Grabbing the medical stuff he pushed them under his pillow, grabbing his blanket to cover himself.

His bedroom door opened. Trying not to grimace as his wound flared up, he acted like he was still asleep.

"Peter, wake up, honey."

With an Oscar worthy performance he woke up.

"Hey, May."

"You should get ready for school soon."

"Will do."

She closed the door again.

This may be a bit more difficult than he thought.

Chapter Text

He should have just called in sick for the day.

Peter Walked through the halls of his school, dizzy and tired and so absolutely done with this week already. With everything going on he forgot to eat since lunch. He also forgot breakfast again. His wound won't stop hurting either.

He tried taking some pain meds, they usually worked by now, but absolutely nothing. And the citrus smell was getting on his nerves. Even after multiple showers over the span of three days he still smelled like lemons.

How about he tried concentrating on the positives?

Other than his Parker Luck kind of ruining his week, it may also be on his side for once. Meeting Tony Stark twice, finding a new delicious fast food place, getting an Internship at SI at the age of fourteen, and so far he managed to not walk into Flash.

Peter stopped. Maybe he shouldn't have thought about that. Now that he acknowledged it, Flash could be around any corner, just waiting for him.

Paying a bit more attention to his spider sense, Peter went about his day. Stopping at his still broken locker, talking to Ned and MJ in class, acing yet another test, he was doing great.

Finally lunch came around. He was starving.

"You really don't look good, like at all." Ned has been telling him to go home since he first saw him that morning.

"I'm alright, just tired." Peter said, again. At least it wasn't a complete lie.

"You have been tired this whole week, I am worried abut you Peter."

As much as he appreciated Ned's care for him, he couldn't just stay home every time he was a bit tired or had a stab wound. Okay, the stab wound was new, but still. It hurt, yes. Does not mean he gets to skip school for it.

Also, if he stayed home, he had to explain it to May and when she noticed he was not sick she would probably end him. Or just ground him. Same thing.

"It is weird, Parker." They did not expect MJ to chime in. "All of sudden you are constantly half dead on your feet, you look worse than usually and on top of that is the very strong smell of lemon accompanying you." She looked at him like she knew all there was to know and sometimes Peter was scared that was true. "Just what are you hiding, Peter?"

"Hiding? What would I have to hide?" Very smart response, indeed. However, he did not need to come up with a better explanation because their conversation was interrupted by a big portion of spaghetti landing on Peter's back.

Half mad at his spider sense for not at least warning him about incoming food, he stood up. Pulling at his shirt and looking over his shoulder he saw a huge red spot covering half of it. For a second he worried it wasn't tomato sauce, only to hear a very obnoxious laugh from a table over.

Turning around he saw Flash, readying another plate to throw, acting like one of those high school bullies in the nineties. Seriously, how could anyone in this day and age think throwing food was fun?

"Let's go, Peter." Ned was by his side, pushing him towards the exit of the cafeteria. Peter looked back at his half eaten plate. He would very much like to cry about now.

He knew he shouldn't have thought about Flash, jinxed it.

Ned led Peter to a bathroom already grabbing paper towels to clog up a sink, making it fill with water.

"Stupid Flash and his stupid Pranks." He mumbled under his breath. When he turned around he made a gesture for Peter to move his shirt.

"Don't worry, I got this, you go back and finish eating." Peter said, more than a bit nervous. How was he supposed to explain his friend why his middle was covered in bandages?

"Come on, I'll help you. My Nana showed me how to get rid of red spills." Peter knew he just wanted to help.

"Could you turn around?" Either ask nicely or shove his friend outside. Both are really bad, but worth a try.

"Oh, yeah, sure, dude." Ned immediately turned around. Peter breathed a sigh of relieve.

Making sure Ned couldn't see Peter in the reflection of the mirrors, he pulled off his shirt.

"When you got it off, just put it in the sink and let it soak for a bit."

Peter did as he was told.

"How long do we wait?" He asked.

Ned kind of comepletely froze.

"About half an hour." He said in a small voice.

"Thirty minutes? We don't have that long! Also I can't walk around wearing that, hat do I do?" He may have been panicing a bit.

"Can't you call May to bring you a new shirt? I would give you one of mine but I don't have any extras with me."

"She's at work."

"I thought she had later shifts of Wednesdays."

"Yeah, but why does that matter now?" Peter watched his shirt in the sink. He couldn't wait that long. What was he going to do?

"Dude, today is Wednesday." ned almost turned around, correcting himself before he could see Peter though. He may not know why his friend was so shy all of a sudden, but he would respect his wishes, no matter what.

Now it was Peter's turn to freeze. Wednesday. The first day of his internship. He couldn't get a breat, could he?

The panic in him only grew.

"Ned, what am I supposed to do? I can't show up to my internship without a shirt!"

"It starts today?" Ned all but screamed.

"If you two are done panicking, I might be able to help." They heard MJ calling from the other side of the door. The door opened just far enough for her to put her hand through, in it she held what Peter recognized was one of her shirts.

He ran up to her, careful not to be seen through the crack in the door. Peter took the shirt, it looked about the right size for him too and didn't clash with his clothes either.

Hastily he put it on, ignoring the pain his movement caused his side.

When he had it on he looked at himself in the mirror. It looked alright. The only problem was the length. It covered everything but when he stretch to make it sit comfortably it rose up, revealing the bandages.

Whatever, all he had to do was not stretch, or lean too far in any direction, or raise his hand, or move at all. It would probably be alright. No need to worry.

Tapping Ned on the shoulder as a sign for his friend to turn around they left the bathroom to find MJ standing in front of the door telling another student to look for another one.

Sometimes he wondered if they were really the good guys.

Thanking MJ about a million times she and Peter waited for Ned to get a plastic bag from the cafeteria to put the soaked shirt in for now until he can wash it.

Chapter Text

As Peter stood in front of the Stark Industries tower he couldn't believe he was actually about to step inside. Looking down at himself one last time, pulling down the shirt, he made sure he looked at he very least not homeless. His shoes did not help his image.

Whatever, setting one foot in front of the other brought Peter through the doors and inside of the massive entrance hall. Looking around he found the receptionist desk. The closer he came the more nervous he got. He stood inside of one of the most successful companies concerning todays engineering.

In this building worked hundreds of people working on the most innovating projects. He would be one of them from this day on forward.

Peter stopped in front of the secretary desk, waiting for the man behind it to look up from the monitor in front of him. Once the two of them made eye contact, the casual, almost bored, look on their face changed to one of amusement.

"Are you lost?" The man asked.

Peter looked behind him to confirm the man was not talking to someone else. Nope, he was the only one standing there.

"Uhm, no, I am here for my internship. I don't know where to go or if I have to sign anything beforehand." He answered, sounding more than a bit unsure.

"Nice try, we only offer those to adults." With that the man went back to staring at his monitor. When Peter didn't move away he looked up again, his amusement replaced by annoyance. "Do I have to call security?"

What was Peter supposed to say? He wasn't given any contract to proof his internship and if he told the man Tony Stark himself made the offer, he would absolutely call for security.

"Could you tell Mr. Stark that Peter Parker was here, please?"

The man laughed. Peter thought that was it, he would miss the first day of his internship. He was about to turn around when the man grabbed for the phone next to his monitor. Hope spread through Peter.

"Security, yes, there is a kid trying to sneak into the internship labs." That was it, he was dead. "His name? I don't know, Phillip or something." He could have at least remember Peter's name he had told him just a second ago.

"It's Peter Parker." He chimed in.

The man looked at him unimpressed but repeated the name to whoever he was talking to on the phone. Whatever the person responded did not make the man happy. He frowned, looked back at Peter, then rolled his eyes.

A moment later he put down the phone.

"Go sit over there, someone will come and get you in a bit." Without paying any more attention to Peter, he waved a hand in the general direction of what looked like a waiting area.

Now he had to make a decision; he could just leave the building and never come back, disappointing Tony Stark and losing any semblance of a chance he had at working at SI. Or he could sit down on one of those very comfortable looking chairs and wait for whatever or whoever was coming for him.

He'd take his chances with maybe getting thrown in jail or possibly some kind of super human prison below the tower. Anything could happen, really. That way he could stay inside for just a tiny bit longer.

Now and then he looked back to the man at the reception desk, he seemed back to his casual mood. If Peter were to call security on someone he wouldn't be this relaxed, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

An elevator next to the receptionist opened, revealing a man in a suit, obviously security. He talked to the other man who looked up and pointed at Peter. Was it normal for his heart to be in his throat? It was probably fine. Nothing to worry.

The man in suit walked towards Peter. He was alone, which did not mean he wasn't going to throw him outside.

"Mr. Parker?" He asked. Peter nodded. "I am Harold Hogan, I will bring you to the lab, if you would follow me?" He started walking back to the elevator without making sure Peter would follow him.

"Excuse me, Sir, Mr. Hogan, I thought you would need some identification or something like that." The man pressed a button and the elevator opened. They both stepped inside. "I have my student ID if you want to see it." He help out his ID. The man looked at it only shortly.

Without having pressed any of the buttons, the elevator started moving. Mr. Hogan grabbed into his pocket and pulled out a badge. Peter noticed he was wearing one looking just like it in front of his chest.

"This is your badge, it will identify you and give you access to any rooms you might to get things from, nothing more. There are levels and rooms you are not allowed into and won't have access to. If you do try to get into one of those Friday with notify security, that is me."

Peter thought the man fit the position of a security guard. He was big and intimidating and had a 'no funny business' aura all around him.

"Understood, Sir." Peter took the badge from the man, putting it in his pocket. He could see the man grimace for just a second, then his face went back to his grumpy one.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

Chapter Text

The lab, revealed in front of Peter, exceeded any and all of his expectations. It was bigger, it had more equipment and some of which he didn't even know what they could do. However, it seem way emptier than he thought it would be.

Wasn't there supposed to be other interns?

He looked around, but never leaving Mr. Hogan's side. He could make out only one person, somewhere hidden behind the machinery. From somewhere Peter heard a kind of chitter that sounded oddly mechanic.

The lab itself was maybe more than he imagined, but now that he payed more intention to its interior, he noticed that it also was less in a way.

Where he expected lines of workbenches for all the interns, there were only two. One looked more used than the other, Peter wondered if the other one might have been new.

The walls around the older looking workbench had posters of ACDC plastered here and there, he could also see one that had Ironman art on it. He heard about engineers putting up posters for amusement and motivation before, he just thought it would be more in the direction of science and engineering.

After just standing in the lab for maybe a minute or two Mr. Hogan cleared his throat. A moment later the only other person there finally made an appearance.

"Thanks, Happy, for bringing Mr. Parker to me." Mr. Stark wiped his hands on an already dirty rag. "That'll be all for now." He threw a big smile at the other man who grunted and made his way back to the elevator. Peter heard him mutter something about this not being his job.

Peter watched the billionaire put the rag on the older looking workbench.

"I heard about that little misunderstanding at the reception, it has already been dealt with, nothing to worry about."

He didn't know what 'dealt with it' was supposed to mean and he did not plan to find out right now.

"Where are the other interns?" Peter asked.

"On the Intern levels." Tony answered matter of fact. "But you," He pointed a finger at Peter. "won't work with them."

"Why is that, Mr. Stark?" If it wasn't Ironman he was alone with in a room he would have probably already jumped out a window.

"You, Mr. Parker, have impressed me, more than any of the college interns did." He smiled. "I made you my personal intern." Peter world stopped. "I don't want you to get me coffee, I got other people for that. What I do want is to teach you what to do with that brain of yours."

Was he dreaming? He expected to work with all the other interns and maybe help develop some cool projects for SI, that would have been enough to die happy. Now Tony Stark, the genius of the century, wanted Peter as his personal Intern. As in teaching himself.

Peter was about to explode.

"This is real, not some morbid prank on one of those bad TV shows?" He asked. If this was anything other than real, it would be the start of his villain arc. Maybe not, but he would be extremely mad.

"You want a contract? I can make Pep bring one up la so you can sign." Tony offered. Peter wasn't sure if he was serious but nodded anyways. "Friday, be a dear and tell Pepper to bring Peter his contract."

"Already done, Sir." A female voice came from the speakers all around the lab.

"I think I might pass out."

"Over there," Tony pointed somewhere behind him and some more machines. "there is a couch you can sit down on if you need a minute."

"Sorry, no, thank you, but I'm good. It's just a lot to take in, I mean, you are Tony Stark." Peter stumbled over his words, maybe he did need to sit down. He had to calm down, he was embarrassing himself in front of his hero.

"Alright, are you ready for the grant tour?" Mr. Stark waved him over, Peter, of course, followed immediately.

The tour started with a fast run down of what Peter was allowed and not allowed to do in the Lab. If he ever happened to be alone he was advised to best stand in a corner and wait for Mr. Stark to return, because, and Peter quotes, he cannot explain to May her nephew was hurt in any way or he was confident she would come and make it look like an accident.

May could be intimidating, Peter was the first to confirm that, however, he knew she just wanted what was best for him. But he did not doubt in her overworked state, she would be conscious enough to walk not pick a fight with an avenger.

Mr. Stark showed Peter all the machinery, explained what they were used for and that Peter should possibly stay away from most of them. In the back were a few of very expensive looking cars the man proudly talked about. He promised to show Peter how to built one of these soon.

After the tour they made their way back to the two workbenches.

"Any questions?" Mr. Stark asked.

"So many." Peter cleared his throat. "But the most important one right now is, where is all the armour? Do you have a separate lab for those?"

"For now my armour is off limits, for safety reasons, you understand."

"Yes, absolutely, wouldn't want some teenager messing up the ironman suit." He could only imagine how many people there were in the world that wanted nothing more than get their hands on one of the suits.

Peter thought about getting a better hiding spot for his suit, too. The bottom of his bag or the empty room in the ceiling wasn't the safest places on earth. And when he thought about Hawkeye, who could easily find his bag lying around. If he had been there a minute sooner the man would have found out Peter's identity.

"You still with me, kid?" He hadn't noticed Mr. Stark waving a hand in front of his face.

"Sorry, must have zoned off there for a second. Won't happen again."

"Don't worry, are you ready for your internship to actually start?"

Chapter Text

When Happy brought Peter Parker to his lab Tony wasn't sure what to expect. The kid looked tired even more tired than the last few days he had seen him. Although, his clothes didn't look as messy, except for his shoes. Tony wondered if he should just get a new pair and call it mandatory for the lab.

After explaining the most basic of things, telling Peter not to touch anything without him present, the fun part could finally start.

At first he gave the kid some old projects who malfunctioned for him to look at, get familiar with the products SI worked with and so Tony could get a better understanding of Peter's capabilities.

As the kid worked he tended to get lost in his head, blocking out anything that might happen around him. Except it being a bit of a safety concern, which he might or might not also did from time to time, it was interesting to see the gears turn as his face openly showed his thoughts.

When Tony was confident he had gathered enough information about Peter's approach and problem solving, he went to his own work bench. There he thought of projects he could possibly show the kid, teach him something he doesn't learn in his robotics class or could look up in an online tutorial at home.

Some time later, Tony was confident to have found a good schedule. He was going to show it to Peter who was still hunched over his own workbench. When Tony was close enough he leaned over Peter to get a look at his progress.

His senses were half attacked by a strong smell of lemon he hadn't noticed before, usually keeping a few feet distance between people at all times. But not important, he could have a talk about too much deodorant use when they didn't meet for the first time. Technically the third, but who was counting?

"I made a list of things we could work on." Tony said.

Having spooked Peter, apparently, the boy jumped to the side. Tony would like to believe he imagined it. Two things happened when Peter moved. First his shirt rose up just a bit and Tony really hoped the kid was wearing another shirt under it, because if not then all his unnecessary anxitey might be right. The other thing was Peter's face. He grimaced the way Tony saw his teammates do all the time after missions, because every small movement jostled some kind of wound.

"Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on you like that." Tony laughed. He watched as Peter relaxed and acted like he didn't notice the boy pulling at the bottom of his shirt.

"No, it's my fault, I was not paying attention. You shouldn't apologize." He reminded Tony of himself when he was caught doing something he should not have been doing as a kid.

"It's not a big deal." Peter looked at him, waiting. Tony had almost forgotten. "Right, I wanted to see what you think about this, if you had anything to add." He handed Peter the list of projects and explained what each would entail.

"Mr. Stark, this is incredible. Do I really get to work on all of these?" The kid's eyes lit up.

"Yup, all of this is just for you, so what do you say?"

"Yes, this is even better than perfect, I can't wait to tell Ned!"

"What is a Ned?"

"He's my best friend, he loves the avengers even more than I do and is, like, a super genius when it comes to coding."

At least he had friends he seemed to get along with. He wasn't completely alone in all of this.

Wait, no, Tony couldn't just jump to conclusions because he thought he saw something. Not even when he was about 99 percent sure he was right. If he acted without ensuring he at least had some proof it could all backfire and endanger Peter even more.

Small steps. Getting to know the kid would be better than immediately overstepping a line and act like some hero in shining armour. Well, he was a hero in shining armour, but for now he had to lay low. Watch and gather proof he can use to get Peter out of there.

Peter looked towards the elevator, Tony followed his lead and did the same expecting someone to enter the lab. The doors were closed and no one to see nearby. Was Peter uncomfortable with him so close? He was ready to move away when the elevator door did open.

Pepper walked into the lab with a few papers in her hands. She made eye contact with Tony, her gaze trying to tell him something he could not make out. She quickly gave up, instead looking at Peter.

"Hello, Peter, I am Virginia Potts. If you have a minute, I would like to go over your internship contract with you?" As always, she was so easy to feel comfortable around.

Peter looked to him with a questioning look. It took him a second to realise he was asking for permission. Tony waved a nonchalant hand as a sign to go ahead.

He watched as the too read through the contract, making sure everyone was happy. While Tony stood there, his thought went into overdrive again. That questioning look, was it him just trying to be polite and respectful or another sign? Maybe he was reading a bit too much into it. But what if he ignored so many signs just because he didn't want it to be true?

"Tony, could we talk?" Pepper walked away from Peter, deeper into the lab.

"Sure," Before he started following her, he made sure to tell the kid to keep working on that device. When the two of them were far enough away from the boy Pepper fixed him with a look.

"What did I do?" He asked.

"I hope you know how this might look, Tony." She sighed. "I thought you would let him work with the other interns. You are alone with a minor you were just stalking yesterday."

He had to admit, it did not look good. He was, however, a bit hurt.

"Pep, I need you to tell me that you know I would never."

"I know that, Tony, believe me, I do." She looked in Peter's direction. "I am sorry, but you must realise how awfully wrong people can misunderstand situations."

"I know."

Chapter Text

That was way too close of a call. Tony Stark had almost noticed something was up. Luckily it didn't look like the man saw, Peter was fast enough in covering the bandages and schooling his expression. And people told him he had no poker face. Maybe his secret identity helped him with that.

After such a long day, he was dead on his feet. The only thing keeping Peter from falling asleep was the never ending pain in his side. He had to check on the wound and change the bandage. It only got worse when he got scared by Mr. Stark suddenly standing next to him.

All week now his spider sense has not been working right. Was he just too tired for it or was he not eating enough? Whatever it was, he had to fix it or he will be in a lot more danger when going out on patrol.

Sneaking into the bathroom, Peter made sure to check on May to see if she was asleep. Last time he didn't have to worry about making any noise, but this time his aunt was just down the hall. If he wasn't careful she was absolutely going to ground him until after he died.

In the Bathroom he locked the door behind him. Finding the first aid kit he checked how much more bandages there were. They wouldn't last him very long, he noticed.

That reminded him of the already used stuff still hidden under some clothes in his room. It was truly a miracle May hadn't found anything out yet.

Pulling off the shirt he winced as the pain spread through his side. When he looked down at the bandage he froze. Over the place where his wound was the white fabric was coloured a mix of red and yellow. This could not be a good sign.

This could explain his overall exhaustion for the past few days. Could an infection be the cause of his body not working right?

He really wanted to wake May up.

He couldn't. Peter had to deal with this situation on his own. He closed his eyes, trying to remember everything his aunt might have ever mentioned about the treatment of infected wounds. Most of the time he just didn't listen, why would he, he was a kid. Who expected of getting stabbed? In Brooklyn. At night. In a dark alley. Surrounded by drug dealers. Okay, maybe he should have at least thought about it once in a while.

After some time or trial and error, figuring out how to clean a wound and biting on a towel so he wouldn't scream, he thought he did a better job than before.

Sadly the wound didn't hurt any less and the pain meds he took also just wouldn't work. Piling up and hiding the used medical stuff under the clothes in his room with the others, Peter decided to go through the kitchen in search of anything that might help. Of course he wouldn't find a wonder curse, but maybe if he ate something it could help the affects of the medication.

Whitch how hungry he was all the time, he should probably look into the exact effects the bite had on him. The perks of super powers were awesome, but there had to be some drawbacks too, and some of these drawbacks might be a bit more concerning than others.

The next morning Peter woke up feeling only worse. It wasn't quite as bad as when he got bitten, but not far from it.

As he sat in his math class, watching his teacher's lips move, but not hearing anything she said, he regretting crawling out of bed that day.

It was almost funny, he thought having an infected wound would be the worst of his problems, but that lemon smell bothered him more than anything. It was still as strong as it had been the night Lemony sprayed him with it. He tried everything to get rid of that smell but it just wouldn't go away.

Now and then, especially right in this moment, he wondered if he might be more spider than he thought. That couldn't be, in that case the smell would have probably made him recoil the moment it hit him. Right?

Peter shook his head. He wasn't thinking straight.

The students around him stood up. He hadn't noticed the bell. MJ stood in front of him, her usually judging face looking concerned. She said something.

Someone put their hand on his forehead. Compared to his burning skin it felt like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. He leaned into it, seeing the arm it belonged to being Ned's. He looked scared.

Something happened and then he was in the nurses office. There was something cold on his head.

In the corner he could see the school nurse talking to someone on the phone. He hoped it wasn't May, she would be so mad at him for missing work. Not as mad. She worried mostly. But the money she would lose when he was okay to go back to class.

Peter sat up, the ice on his forehead falling to the floor, catching the nurses attention.

He wasn't alright, or was he? He was good the day before. Now he felt like he was burning up from the inside.

The bed was too warm, he had to get out of it or he might overheat.

The floor was so cold.

Chapter Text

The pain was less, by a lot. Still there, but not the first thing on his mind. The bed he was in was uncomfortable, the bedsheets rustling too loudly by the smallest movement.

Peter opened his eyes.

This was not his room.

Whatever happened the day before was all fuzzy, he remembered going to school and not feeling too well. Did he go home? But this wasn't his room. He realized that much.

Standing up from the bed, he stumbled a few steps before catching himself on the foot end of the bed.

He looked around, his eyes catching on a clock hanging high on one of the four identical white walls, all of which had some kind of monitor or machine in front of it.

His eyes grew wide. If yesterday had already passed, then it was Friday. His Internship would start within the next hour and Peter had no idea where he was. He couldn't just miss the second day of his internship because he was a bit lost, what would Mr. Stark think of him?

Looking down at himself he noticed he wasn't wearing his own clothes either. In order not to freak out, he tried not to think about how he ended up like that, instead started to search the room for anything other than this paper like dress to wear.

Somewhere he found a pair of jogging pants and a jacket. He deemed himself covered enough. Now he had to find a way out of this place.

He looked at the window.

He had some difficulty getting it open, but not soon after he was climbing the outside of the building, paying attention to avoid the windows.

He made it to the ground rather easy, just here and there losing his footing. It wasn't that bad, he was okay.

Stumbling his way into a dizzying jog, Peter made his way towards the big Avenger sign in the distance.

When he finally made it there, he was probably already late.

Walking into the entrance hall he wondered where to next. Last time he was there Mr. Hogan brought him up to the lab, now he was alone.

He didn't even have his badge.

Looking around he found the receptionist desk. Apparently it was his lucky day, the same man from Wednesday sat there.

Making his way over, the man soon noticed him. Although Peter couldn't understand why he looked at him so weird. His hair was maybe still messed up from sleep.

"Can, can you tell Mr. Stark I am here." Why was it so difficult to talk? "I forgot my badge."

The man kept looking at Peter, able to pick up the phone and dialling without looking.

Relieved he had made it and could explain why he was late in just a bit, Peter made his way over to the comfortable chairs in the waiting area.

Fixing his gaze on the elevator next to the reception, he waited for Mr. Hogan to appear. The concerned looks of bypassing Stark Industries employees went unnoticed.

He didn't wait as long as last time when the elevator finally opened. Instead of Mr. Hogan it was Mr. Stark walking out. The man's eyes scanned the entrance hall, easily finding Peter.

He jogged over, he too looked at the boy weird.

"Sorry, Mr. Stark, I know I'm late." Peter stood up, his legs feeling weak.

"What happened to you?" Now he knew what that look on the people's faces was. It was worry. Why was Mr. Stark worried?

"It wasn't my room and they took my clothes, I climbed out the window." On trembling legs, he started walking towards the elevator.

"Hey, hey, where are you going, kid?" Mr. Stark grabbed on of his shoulders, making Peter stop.

"Internship." He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But what if it wasn't? He was late, he probably disappointed his idol and hero. "Am I fired?"

"No, no, you are not fired." Mr. Stark looked Peter up and down, holding on to his shoulder. "You know, what? How would you like to meet two very brilliant people?" Slowly he led Peter towards the elevator. "Friday, immediately contact Cho and Banner. Tell them to come to the Med Bay, this is an emergency."

"Is someone hurt?" Peter frowned.

"It's going to be fine." The hand on Peter's shoulder held on a bit stronger.

He wondered who he was going to meet. Maybe another avenger? Whoever it was, Mr. Stark said it would be fine, so it probably was. If only he weren't so tired again.

Why was his jacket wet?

Chapter Text

When Peter was late for his Internship Tony did not expect him to show up looking like this. He was white as a sheet, the clothes he wore didn't seem to be his and under the thin jacket he could make out what looked like a hospital gown. When the boy stood in front of him Tony noticed his bare feet. His legs shook so fervently he was worried Peter might fall over at any second.

What the boy said made his blood run cold. If he could believe the delirious sounding words, he regretted not having done anything to ensure Peter's protection.

Holding on to the kid Tony brought him up to the Med Bay, already leading him to a bed. He tried to talk to Peter, to ask what happened, but he didn't seem to understand much of what Tony was saying. So all he could do was wait and try to built a picture with what little information Peter had given him.

The thought of some disgusting people trying to kidnap the kid made him sick. He almost threw up when he remember Peter telling him they took his clothes. When he found who ever did this to the boy, to a smart boy like Peter.

While Tony waited for Hellen Cho, the seconds ticking by feeling like hours they lost, he thought of everything he knew about Peter's files. Was there a person who was at least a tiny bit suspicious?

He looked at the boy, a horrible realisation filling him. Why did Peter come here of all places? He said he was there for his internship. Could Tony believe that? Shouldn't your first instinct be to find your family?

Tony watched Peter as the boy stared all around the room in fascination.

"Mr. Stark," He whispered. "I don't think this is the lab."

"It's not, buddy." What was he supposed to do in this situation? Peter needed his help but it was Tony who had failed to protect him.

Peter opened was about to talk some more when another person entered the room.

"Tony, what happened?" Bruce Banner jogged up to them, worry and confusion written all over his face. He came to a stop in front of them, eyes focused on Peter. "Who is this?"

"Oh my gosh, you're, like, the coolest person ever!" Peter marvelled at Bruce who looked even more confused, now at Tony.

"This is my intern, I don't know what happened, he showed up here looking like this." Tony explained. Glad to see Bruce immediately going into doctor mode and looking Peter over.

"Alright," He pulled a pocket light from somewhere, examining Peter's eyes. "Hello, it seems you know me, can I ask who you are?" He took Peter's hand, feeling his pulls.

The boy looked like he was about to pass out from either exhaustion of excitement.

"I'm, I am Peter." He sputtered out.

"Okay, Peter, can you tell me if you feel any pain or discomfort?"

Peter looked down at himself pulling at the hospital gown. Bruce took the hint and carefully lifted the gown to reviel bandages wrapped around the boy's middle.

Now it was Tony who might pass out, because he did see it and he chose to ignore all of the signs.

"Tony, these bandages look fresh." Indeed, the fabric was a neat and clean white. "Peter, where were you before you came here?" That Tony would like to know, too.

"It wasn't my room." He said, frowning. "It was so clean and white and there were those weird things."

"What kind of things?" Bruce cut open the bandage. Under it was a freshly stitched wound. Both Tony and Bruce had seen more than enough wounds like this to know Peter had been stabbed.

"Like, machines, and things."

"I need you to think, Peter," The boy put all his barely-there concentration on the man. "Was it a hospital room?" The time he took to think was excruciating, but in the end he nodded. A weight fell off Tony's chest.

The more Bruce examined Peter, redressing his wound, pressing here and there n search for any overseen injuries, checking his vitals one more time, the more tired the kid looked.

"Peter, stay awake for just a bit more, alright?" Peter nodded, but it didn't seem he was able to actually listen to instructions. "Do you like the smell of lemons?"

Tony almost snorted a laugh at Bruce's question. Since the first day he met the kid he had smelled strongly of the citrus fruit. The smell in and of itself was nice, just the intensity was too much.

Peter shook his head.

"Lemony sprayed me, I can't get rid of it." He sounded exhausted and somewhere frustrated. Tony couldn't make much sense of Peter's answer, a questioning look towards Bruce told him the other man also had no idea what the boy was talking about.

"What is lemony?" Bruce asked.

Peter giggled, then winced as he probably jostled his wound.

"Lemony is a meany. He didn't even tell me his name, that is so," He stared into Bruce's eyes. "So rude."

"Peter," Tony called for the boy's attention. "What does this Lemony look like?" He had a very bad feeling about this.

"He was a shadow. All sneaky, almost didn't notice him." Peter's words were more and more difficult to decipher. A few minutes later he blinked one more time and seemed already fast asleep.

Bruce and Tony left the room.

"Tony, we should probably contact his family and the police."

"Police has already been informed." He crossed his arm over his chest,.

"What about his family?"

"I don't know if that would be a good idea."

Chapter Text

When May got a call from Peter's school, she didn't expect to hear that he was in such a bad state.

What she expected even less was Peter getting send to the hospital she was working at. It all just seemed too ridiculous when her co-worker told her he was brought in with an infected stab wound.

She wasn't allowed to be present in the operating room. They told her to wait with the other patients' parents. The hours went by and all she could do was sit and wait.

May spent the time thinking about the last few days. There were absolutely no signs of her nephew being injured, he would have told her. An infection would take at the very least a day or two to get this bad. It just didn't make sense, she would have known if anything happened to Peter, she was his guardian after all.

"Mrs. Parker?" Two police officers stood before her. "We would like to ask you some questions." One of them said. May agreed, maybe they could help her figure this out. "Do you know what happened to Peter?"

"No, I don't understand, he was completely fine the last time I saw him." She said, some bit irritated.

"When exactly was the last time you saw him?" The other asked and May stopped. She wasn't sure.

"Maybe this morning, or yesterday." The officers looked at each other. "I want you to realize that I am a nurse at this very hospital. At the moment we are severely understaffed and I have to cover a lot more shifts than usual. Which means I am very busy and can't always remember who I met when." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"We understand, Mrs. Parker." She doubted they did. "Have you noticed any change in behaviour in your Nephew?"

"No, he acted like every other day, too." May was slowly getting irritated, if she knew something she would tell them.

"I take it you are stressed," If only they knew, she thought. "I can't imagine seeing my child hurt and not able to help. To imagine to miss something this life threatening."

"First of all, I didn't miss anything. Peter did not act any different, he went to school and to this stupid internship like everything was okay, how was I supposed to know he was stabbed? And he isn't mine," The officers looked more interested at that. "His parents died when he was very young, my husband, his uncle, took him in. He died just last month and now I have to take care of him alone, we aren't even related by blood."

"It can be a big burden to suddenly having to take care of a child, many would love a break after everything you went through."

"Absolutely not." She fixed the police officer with a fierce look. "If you only think about taking Peter away from me," She didn't finish the sentence. "I am not threatening you, just trying to look out for my nephew. I promised my husband, who was an officer himself, mind you, that I would take care of and protect Peter."

She was done with this interrogation. Leaving the waiting area, she walked outside, just for a bit. What where they thinking, that she would purposely endanger her nephew? The air had cooled down for the day, the sun colouring the sky in a play of orange and red.

How did she miss this?

Later, when Peter was put in a room, still sleeping off the anaesthesia, she decided to go home. He probably wanted to change into his own clothes.

To her horror did she not only find laundry covered in what could only be blood, but when she came back to the hospital Peter's room was empty.

Chapter Text

This could only be a dream. No, not even a dream could be this awesome, he probably died and went to heaven, because how lucky was he to not only meet Tony Stark but also Bruce Banner?

Ignoring the still very prominent pain in his side, Peter rather stared at the two geniuses talking behind the glass door. They hadn't noticed he had woken up already.

He watched as Dr. Banner talked, a worried expression on his face, meanwhile Mr. Stark's became paler by the second. Banner held up a device showing something to Stark who had to do a double take at whatever it was he saw, then quickly turned to look at Peter through the glass door.

The boy, of course not thinking that it should have been impossible for him to be awake this shortly after major surgery sat up and waved at the two men. They didn't wave back.

Peter put his hand back down, hiding it under the blanket. Feeling he might have done something wrong he rather not keep looking at the two geniuses, instead scanning the room he woke up in. As he took in the room, all the medical equipment some memories from the previous day started to come back.

"Oh no." He said.

"What's wrong, Peter, do you feel any pain?" He hadn't noticed the two men enter the room. Peter looked up at them, a clear expression of panic on his face.

"I am so, so sorry Mr. Stark," He started. "Believe me when I tell you this is all just a huge misunderstanding."

"I would very much like to believe that Pete, there is nothing more I would like to believe in this moment." Mr. Stark moved a chair next to the cot Peter was lying in. "But I know something serious is going on. You have been strong for so long, Peter, but you are save now."

"No, you don't understand, I was never in any danger, it's kind of funny if you think about it actually." Peter giggled awkwardly. "Long story short," Before he could explain he got interrupted by Dr. Banner.

"Peter, Dr. Cho and I, we ran some tests and found something in your blood." The concerned looks on the men's faces was just too much.

"About that, yeah, I can explain that." He could not explain that. He had a story ready to tell them about a mugging, but how does he explain whatever it is that was in his blood? Super powers can't be explained by a stabbing.

"You don't have to explain anything, just know that we will do anything in our power to help you." The serious tone of Mr. Stark just unleashed a kind of guilt in Peter he didn't even know existed. "There are a few questions we need to ask you."

"Mr. Stark, this is not what you think." He almost screamed. "I wasn't myself yesterday and might have accidentally escaped the hospital without meaning to, and my aunt must be worried sick about me. Can I please call her?"

The man's expression didn't change, still that suspicious and worrying look. He nodded, however, pulling a phone from his pocket and giving it to Peter.

He had never been this glad that May makes him remember her number by heart. He quickly dialled her number. It barely rang once before she picked up.

"Who is this?" She sounded rather angry and Peter was sure it was his fault.

"Hey, May, it's me."

"Peter?"

"That one, yeah."

"Peter, where on earth are you? Are you okay? What happened?"

"No need to worry, I am with Mr. Stark," He already heard her getting ready for another round of questions. "I'm okay, I had a bit of a fever it seems and walked all the way here." He explained. "I'm okay, though." He quickly added.

"You have no idea how worried I was."

"Sorry."

"I'm on my way, and I promise, I will never leave you out of my sight again." With that she hung up.

"She is on her way." Peter told the men when he handed back the phone to Mr. Stark.

"Good, I would like to have a quick talk with her once she gets here.

For a second it all seemed alright.

"Peter, concerning your blood," Less alright. "We found a high dosage of a sedative." Please just let it be from the anaesthesia. "It was enough to kill a grown man." Not the anaesthesia.

He thought back to when he might have been injected with something, but nothing came up. Other than the stab wound he has not been hit at all. He has been tired the entire week, ever since his encounter with a lemon fresh mystery guy.

If they asked any more questions he might have to tell them about Spider-Man or he ran the risk of those two contacting social services.

Chapter Text

"I know this looks, like, really bad," Started Peter.

"Really bad doesn't even cut it." Remarked Mr.Stark under a sigh.

"Okay, so, you know I got stabbed, right?" He had no idea how to keep going. How do you explain surviving a deathly amount of a sedative? "That was not all that happened." At the wide eyes he was greeted with Peter quickly continued. "How do I say this? You know, Mr. Stark, how I love to experiment and all that? I worked on a kind of medication, yeah, that would grant a person a super strong body, immune to almost anything! I tested it on myself the same day this guy stabbed me and, lucky me, it was the best possible thing to happen, because, as you see, the knife was probably laced with something." He was absolutely winging it.

Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner slowly looked at each other, then at Peter, and back to each other.

"You," began Dr. Banner. "You tested a medication on yourself, without any supervision? Tony, did you know about this?"

"Oh, yes, I let everyone of my interns test possible deadly things on themself. Do I look like I knew about this?!"

Peter breathed a sigh of relieve. It seemed the two believed his story, however impossible it sounded. Either he was a really good liar or he made the impression to actually do something as stupid as that. He should probably stop thinking about this before he figured out the answer.

"I am so sorry, I will never do it again." He chimed in, looking not sorry at all.

"How did you even get the chemicals to work on a medication?" Dr. Banner asked.

He didn't think about that.

"You know, you can find a lot of stuff lying around nowadays."

It seemed the two men went through all the phases of grief the more nonsense Peter spewed. He didn't know how long he could keep this up before they used even a fraction of their brain capacity and figure out whatever he said was nothing but word gamble.

When the door suddenly opened, a very disgruntled May storming into the medical room, followed by an out of breath security guy, Peter remembered him from his first day, he didn't know if he was saved or about to die.

"Peter!" She yelled.

"May!"

"I can't believe you walked all the way here, let me look at you." May didn't wait for an answer. She grabbed the blanket and swung it off Peter's body, getting a good look at her nephew in a different gown than she had last seen him in. She grabbed his wrists, puling his arms up to look at every inch of his body, the same with his legs.

"You must be May Parker." Mr. Stark said.

"And you must be the guy that got Peter in all this mess in the first place." SHe said, not looking away from Peter. Done with looking at the soles of his feet she went to pull up the gown to get a look at his bandage.

"May!"

"Young man, let go of the gown and let me have a look at your wounds. They were already infected last night, I can't imagine what they look like now."

"If I may," Dr. Banner came to the rescue. "Dr. Cho and myself made sure to take very good care of Peter, his wounds have been tended to and the infection is on a very good way of healing." When may still tried to pull up Peter's gown he added, "Tony only has the best people working in his medical team."

May finally let go, instead crossing her arms in front of her chest and fixing the two men with a stern look.

"If I find out you messed him up even more, pumped him with whatever chemicals this place is experimenting on, I will sue you for all you got."

"Your dear nephew already did that for us." Mr Stark bit back, posture mimicing that of Peter's aunt.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, it seems little Einstein here has not even talked about this to his guardian." Now all adults looks at Peter again.

What followed was a long and partially very loud explaining and questioning. Peter ended up with a at least two months grounded.

"And I am seriously reconsidering saying yes to this internship." She said.

"What? Why?" Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner, who had stepped away while Peter retoled his story, came right back up next to the small family.

"Because before this you have never, and I mean never, acted this stupid. You maybe walked away during a robot attack or, or run away for one night, but that was the worst of it!" She ignored the way the two men looked at each other at the mention of a robot attack. "The second I agreed to this, to put you under the supervision of the idiot they call geniu - just because he can fly in a suit - you almost got yourself killed!"

"That has nothing to do with the internship!" Peter yelled back. "Why can't you understand that? Ben would at the very least listen!"

"Peter!" All the fight left them. Peter hadn't noticed the death grip he had on the blanket. "That's it, no more internship. We will go back to the way it was, no more dangerous experiments, no more being out at night, no more Mr. Stark. The second you are good to go I will drag you home."

Chapter Text

May meant what she said. The minute Peter's wounds seemed stable enough to move she dragged him by the arm towards her car and all the way inside his bedroom, which was strangely clean.

"No video games, no playing with stuff you find lying around outside, and no, I repeat, no experiments of any kind." She left afterwards, not to work but to sit in the living room, watching the news.

Peter threw his body onto his bed, the smell of freshly washed laundry puffing out of it.

At least now he was sure there were no spiders in his room.

The next time he went back to school Ned asked him about a million questions while MJ just kept looking at him weird. As soon as Flash saw Peter slouching down the halls he had the time ofhis life. At least this place was the same as always.

He had to make up for a bunch of missed homework and who knows how many assignments teachers can give in barely two weeks. He was excused from PE for some time, though.

However, when school was over, so was any aspect of the rest of his life. Home right away, no hortcuts, or stopping to get food, not even helping an elderly lady cross the street. Those where May's rules. Also not meeting with his friends or anyone else on that matter. If he ever saw anything related to Stark Industries he was supposed to walk the other way.

It wasn't all bad and boring. He had time to study and actually finish his assignments in time. He got to watch one or another show with May and the sleep he craved for so long. It took a bit, but a few weeks later and there was no hint of sleepyness in him.

The only real con, apart from never being allowed anywhere near Stark Industries again, he couldn't sneak out at night. May had put a kind of lock on his window that allerted her every time he opened it. He tried arguing, what if there was a fire or the apocalypse started.

"You can still open it, just not without me knowing, Peter, stop being dramatic." Was all she had to say about this.

There was no way for him too look into Lemony.

One day blended with the next and the next and the next and it never ended.

He bored out of his mind, also he was convinced he lost weight. Without getting food after school he only had May's cooking, which only half of it was cooked enough to be edible. Even with his super strength he felt kind of weak.

Peter caught himself thinking back to various fast food places. Often he thought about the one he had met Mr. Stark in for the first time. Less met, more stared at.

The men had no choice but to let May cancel the internship for Peter.

Everytime Peter mentions anything Stark related, be it about an ad on tv or retelling something they had done during the internship, may got mad. Mad as in another week of being grounded kind of mad.

Maybe that's why he had waited until the end of the day, after May had relaxed from work and watched her favorite movie, until she was in a good mood, to show her the permission slip

MJ had shown Peter her drawing of him as he read over the company name again and again. His life had officially become a joke. A fieldtrip to Stark Industries.

Ned came up with more and more elaborate schemes to get Peter onto the bus without anyone knowing.

Although the fieldtrip wasn't until two weeks later, the teacher wanted the permission slips back by the next day.

So there was now or never. The piece of paper carefully folded in his hands, Peter went for it.

"May, could you sign this for me?"

"Sign what?" She asked absentmindedly, her eyes not leaving the tv.

"Just a permission slip for a fieldtrip my school is planning." Maybe if he was as casual as was humanly possible she wouldn't actually read it.

"Didn't your class just have a fieldtrip a few months back?"

"Yeah, but, you know, rich school and all that."

At that she looked up.

"And I can imagine this rich school wants the parents of the students to pay for everything anyway." She took the paper out of Peter's hand, reading it over. She barely looked at it before she gave Peter an unimpressed frown. "Peter, we talked about this."

"But May, it's not me that wants to go, it's the school that wants me to got." He tried.

"Good, if you don't want to go, no need to be sad when I don't sign." She smiled, crumbled up the paper, threw it towards Peter, and went back to watching the movie.

Grumlbing under his breath Peter went back to his room.

It was late at night, when he woke up with the genius idea. Technically he didn't need May to sign, he just needed her signature.

Finding a different piece of paper she had signed Peter copied her name, even if a bit messy, but it was fine, the paper was already crumbled, no one would notice, and put in in his backpack.

Chapter Text

Finally, it took almost two months, it was two days before the Internship and May had no idea about anything.

She came into his room ten minutes ago to tell him she had to spontaneously cover for a co-worker who's apparently getting their baby about right now. She told there was food in the fridge if he got hungry and to not stay up too late.

The minute she left the apartment Peter his suit out of its hiding place, he still didn't know how May hadn't found it yet, and put it on.

He did make a stop in the kitchen to get some of the food.

However afterwards he went into May's room. A week ago he saw that her window didn't have a lock of any kind.

Swinging and jumping from rooftop to rooftop Peter could finally be outside as Spider-Man again.

Here there he could even safe a person or two, contact the police, get the criminals arrested. It was the best day in a long time.

And of course a night of crime fighting wouldn't be what it used to without running into someone he would not expect in his wildest dreams.

"Holy moly," He almost squealed. Of course he didn't, he was a very adultish man. "If this continues I'm gonna think you give want me to join the team."

"Haven't seen you in quite some time, Spider- Man." Black Widow stood before him in all her spy and assassin glory.

"A spider got a buisy life, you probably know how it is." Behind the mask he looked her up and down. The last time he met an assassin on a rooftop he almost stole Peter's backpack. No stolen goods in sight, he continued making smalltalk. "Sooo, how is the life as an avenger. Didn't get the chance to ask Hawkeye last time I saw him."

"Heard you were in a hurry."

"Always rushing to help. But that reminds me, could I have an autograph?"

"Sure, but I doubt your friend wants one from me he seems more interested in you."

Before Peter could ask what she meant she threw a widow bite just past his face.

His spidey sense told him to move. When he did he saw a very familiar dart flying past. As if on reflex his arm goes up, a web shoots out and he catches the dart before it could hit Black Widow.

"Again so rude, you really didn't change." Peter said, looking over his shoulder at the dark silhouette of none other than Lemony. "I thought I already showed you how useless those darts are. No one can catch me." To demonstrate he jumped a bit around, walking sideways on a wall, off the side of the building and popping up behind Lemony.

As always, the figure kept quiet.

While Peter was having his fun, he kept aclose eye on the weapon in person's hand. It looked different than last time, but hidden in the shadow, at the dead of night, even his increased eyesight didn't stand a chance in making out whatever changes he did to the thinh.

"Who is your friend, Spidey?" Black Widow asked, having come closer.

"Not really a friend, more of an introverted stalker."

"Aren't they all?"

Lemony apparently does not like being called a stalker because he went right into fight mode. As last time, Peter easily evaded all darts the guy tried to shoot at him. Black Widow had her own way of dodging and defelcting it seemed.

"I had dreams like this, fighting with you against a bad guy.Guess dream do come true." Peter called somewhere in the general area where he last saw her.

"I wanted to spend some time with you too, just in a more private setting."

Peter almost stumbled over his own feet.

The next few darts were a bit more difficult to dodge. Quickly making sure he had not a scratch on him he continued the fight. Trying to not think about whatever it was Black Widow meant by that he tried to get closer to Lemony.

The fight continued, the two spider themed heroes got closer, Black Widow easier. Peter used every secund he ddn't have to watch his wn back to take in the way the older hero worked in a way that looked elegant and easy while making sure not to get hid even once. She was all he aspired to be as Spider-Man.

Jumping right back in Peter managed to kick the Weapon out of Lemony's hand. Black Widow was right by his side, overwhelming the guy.

Peter saw one of his hands reaching back.

He knew what was about to happen next.

Careful of his strength her shoved Black Widow out of the way, sending her flying a few feet. He cringed at the sound her body made when it hit the roof. The emotion was quickly replaced by coughing when he was yet again covered in a strong smelling cloud.

Peter send out webs in the direction of where the cloud had come from, only hitting an open vent. No sign of lemony anywhere.

Once Peter stopped coughing he looked around.

Black Widow was already on her feet again, now sporting a nasty cut onher forehead and rubbung her shoulder.

"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to shove you that hard!" He apologetically yelled.

"Don't worry about it, are you okay? What was that stuff?"

Peter looked down at himself, so far it seemed there was nothing new about this spray, other than the scent - mint this time - he noticed.

"It might be some kind of drug? I'm not sure, hadn't had the chance to look into it yet. But whatever you do, don't let him spray you." He said.

"If we don't know anything about this possible drug, you should come with me to the tower and get yourself checked out."

"Sorry, no can do, as I said before," He pointed at himself. "Buisy spider."

He ran towards the edge of the building, jumping off and swinging away.

He forgot the Autograph.

Chapter Text

Tony did not like any of this.

How sure could he be that Peter didn't just lie to cover his aunt's messed up way of upbringing?

It didn't sit right with him that she made Peter quit the internship the second someone found out in what condition Peter was.

The more he thought about it the worse it got.

There was no way Peter just found strong enough chemicals lying around in the street to come up with super medication. However, his aunt worked in a hospital, meaning she had access to whatever kind of medication they got there, including all kinds of sedatives.

Tony even tried contacting Peter and his aunt, never getting through. He started to think none in their family owned a phone.

It got even weirder when Friday alerted him of one Peter Parker entering SI. Immediately he asked abut injusries of any kind. Firday assured him the boy was as healthy as he could be, although on the brink of malnurishment. Tony didn't know how healthy and malnurishment could fit in the same sentance, but at least Peter wasn't about to collapse again.

He told Friday to keep a close eye on the kid. As much as he wanted to sit in front of the monitor and watch Peter over the security cameras to ensure he was okay, Tony had to work on some other stuff. He tried putting ot off for some time now, more concerned about the safety of someone else than finding out what was up with the new spider vigilante acrobating his way through Queens.

Hawkeye had met the new hero before he disappeared, almost got a look at his bag. They barely talked before Spider-Man left Clint standing on the roof.

Then the guy disappeared for some time, they started to think he died trying to stop a mugging but suddenly he appeared again. Nat went out in hopes of getting him to talk. When she got back she told them about some small criminal seeming to have a problem with Spider-Man, almost completely ignoring Natasha during their short fight.

She said Spidey knew the criminal, they had encountered each other before, and that the guy in black, Spidey called him Lemony, sprayed him with something. She couldn't tell what it was, onlythat it smelled minty. The vigilante denied a check up at the tower and jumped off the roof, acrobating his way god knows where.

Now, after Spidey had caught Clint and Nat's attention, it was Tony's job to figure out who hid behind the mask.

No, he wasn't buisy solving a possible abuse case, fearing the next time he hears about Peter it will be in the news. He had so much free time while also taking care of all the avengers' gear and working on new projects for SI. It's not like the two spies could easily do this on their own, of course not.

But he was the genius with all the fancy tech, what else was he good for?

While he spent most of the day looking over cctv around Queens, having Friday figure out the possible routes the vigilante could have went, he couldn't stop thinking about Peter, after two months, appearing out of nowhere.

Having stared at the same footage for the past twenty minutes Tony almost begged for someone to disrupt his work. Of course, the one time he wanted it to happen no one came.

Tony changed from the cctv of some street to the security camera in one of the elevators, currently holding about 10 teenagers, some employee and what he thought was supposed to be a teacher.

The employee, some young looking guy, probably one of the college interns, worked as the tour guide it seemed, talking about the renewable energy Stark Industries worked on.

A few moments later the elevator doors opened, the horde of students walking out. Tony changed cameras, now overlooking the entrance area of the intern labs. He hadn't been down there in some time already.

Maybe there could be a project gone wrong and the entire floor could blow up, or a chemical spill causing all kinds of reactions. He should probably go and check in on them.

Safety was very important and he had to make sure his itnerns didn't accidentally kill each other or themselves. He was absolutely not going there because he wanted to see Peter in person, who would do something like that?

Chapter Text

Peter held his breath when he gave his teacher the permission slip. Mr. Harrington barely looked at the paper, didn't even care about the crumbled mess he was given, before putting it to the others.

Everyday the fieldtrip came closer and everyday Peter thought someone would find out he forged May's signature. Maybe even May herself would sense something was up, he expected her to open the door to his classroom any second he was in calss.

The day of the fieldtrip came, Peter's classmates all fought for whichever seat on the bus they wanted, Flash shoving Peter out of the way, making him fall onto the seat right behind the bus driver. Once everyone got on the bus Mr. Harrington sat down on the other side of the isle from Peter, talking to him for most of the ride, while he could hear Flash in the back making not very nice comments about whatever it is he didn't like about Peter this particular day of the week.

Ned and MJ sat somewhere further back, when Ned tried getting up and sitting next to Peter their teacher made a huge thing about safety on the bus.

It was only when they finally got off the bus, flash shoving Peter again, almost making him trip, until he had a chance to talk to anyone other than Mr. Harrington.

The students gathered in front of the big building, Stark Industries. Through the big windows and glass doors they watched the employees and security walk around the place like it was just a thing people did. Peter spotted Mr. Hogan talking to someone, holding up a badge.

"You think they'll let you in?" Ned asked, watching the ordeal as well.

"I wasn't fired, so, maybe?" Peter answered, rather unsure. He hadn't thought about this. What if the end of his internship also meatn life long ban from Stark Industries? He had to give back his badge, obviusly, no oe wanted some kid walking around unsupervised.

"They'll probably tie you up and hang you from the ceiling for everyone to look at. A sign saying 'See this guy? He got fired.' around your neck." MJ said deadpan. Sometimes Peter worried about her sense of humor.

"Maybe they won't recognize me?"

"Let's hope for that." Ned patted him on the shoulder.

Mr. Harrington scurried them into the building, told them not to move or touch anything before going to the reception.

Peter tried casually hiding behind Ned or MJ, he wouldn't want to see the secretary again after what happened last time. Now and then he still gets some split fraction of a memory back on what exactly he did when coming here. He must have scared the man for his life.

A glance over Ned's shoulder showed him it was the same man at the receptionist's desk. Why would it be anyone else?

He somehow made it through the lobby, not getting spotted by Mr. Hogan. Standing in the back while the tour guide talked about the building.

The start was mostly information anyone could look up online as well, however, it got interesting as soon as they used the elevator to visit all kinds of work stations, seeing the process of creating some of SI's most sold Inventions.

It was a few hours later, Peter's stomach hurting from only having had a sandwich for breakfast that morning, when they got to the Intern labs. Peter had never been in tehm before, always havign been sent up to Mr. Stark's lab.

This place was filled with college students working on all kinds of projects. Some were running around, looking for parts or tools, others were immersed in their work, and a few were standing at their tables just talking to each other.

The tour guide told them to look around but please not touch anything. Immeditaely Peter's classmates ran to whatever they thought looked most interesting, asking holes into the interns stomachs.

Peter, not as excited but not uninterested, walked around from tabled to tabled, stopping now and again to ask a few questions. He hadn't noticed he came closer and closer to Flash until he tripped over his foot. Stumbling a few steps he bumped into someone else.

"Sorry, sorry, I am so sorry." Peter whirled around, looking at who it was he stumbled into. A young man, about a head taller than Peter turned around to throw him a weird look. "Did I, did I damage something?" Peter tried to look around the intern to see if whatever he was working on was still in tact but the guy moved in the same moment, just a bit to the side, obstructing Peter's view.

The young man didn't respond, just scunched up his face like he smelled something disgusting, which, Peter had to admit, the mint smell was even stronger than the lemon smell had been.

The fully turning around.

Peter waited for him to talk but he didn't. The silence between them stretched on.

There was something in this guy's eyes, more than annoyance towards Peter.

"How is everything going down here?" Peter jumped, almost bumping into the intern again. Tony Stark just walked into the intern labs.

The class started mumbling to themselves, watching Mr. Stark's every move, some questioning if they were asleep.

Mr. Stark on the other hand moved around like there wasn't a group of teenagers mesmerized by his presents. He looked around the room until his eyes landed on Peter.

"Hey, kid, long time no see, how are things at home?" He asked in a way it seemed they knew each other for years.

Chapter Text

Peter didn't know how to respond. He hadn't seen the man in over two months now and there was a high chance May would sense he came closer than a fifty feet radius from peter, like a dog smelling you petted another dog.

"Mr. Stark, sir," Spoke the intern. "I really think having this many children, especially those kinds," he threw Peter another disgusted look. The boy looked down at himself. He wore his everyday shoes, sure the duct-tape wasn't the most fancy accessory but it held them together. His jeans looked good for most part, except the frizzy hems of his jeans, no matter how often he cuffed them. His shirt seemed completely fine though. "In a Stark Industries lab is rather dangerous, for them, us, and you, too, sir."

"No idea what you could possibly mean, look at him," Mr. Stark motioned to Peter. "He may be young but this kid got brains, let him ask some questions, or answer some of yours." He grinned.

Before the intern could say anything else to show his disdain for Peter's existence the tour guide started talking again.

"I'm sorry, I was not expecting you'd be here, Mr. Stark." He said. "I'll go somewhere else with the class."

"No need to worry, I wouldn't have come if I didn't want to meet the young brains of today."

A few minutes later Peter's class stood around Mr. Stark while the man answered whatever questions they all had. It went on for some time, a kid would raise their hand and the genius would answer, at some point he started talking to all of them, asking some things back.

Flash was about the most eager to answer about all of them, yet tried to show himself from his best side in front of Mr. Stark. At least for the most of it, because everytime the man talked to Peter Flash would chime in, answering for or talking over him. Flash just couldn't resist making Peter's days that bit worse. At one point he shoved Peter to the side to stand in front of him.

Peter thought about charging him for all this shoving, with how often this happened he would have enough money to get some extra food he could stash in his room.

When he looked over to Ned his friend was in no way on the same plane of existence as he was, practically blinking stars out of his eyes as he stared at Mr. Stark. When Peter glanced over to MJ he saw her half listening, half scribbling something in a notebook. When she looked up and immediately made eye contact with Peter, he knew, she was drawing yet another misserable portrait of him.

With how often this happened recently he had to admit, her portraits of people were already good and she is only improving. At least there was something positive about his life.

His stomach grumbling caught not only his attention but those of his classmates and even some interns as well.

"How about your tour guide shows you the cafeteria? Kids need food and water to grow." Mr. Stark said.

As the tour guide scattered the class towards the elevator Peter felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning arround he was surprised to see the intern from before. A similarly disgusted face greeting Peter as when he first bumped into him.

"You don't belong here. You are an abomination." The hatred spilled out of his mouth like poisened honey.

Peter, confused as to why this was happening - was bumping into the guy really that bad? He knew he damaged something! - just nodded before joinging his class in the elevator.

He was so distracted he didn't notice Ned tapping his shoulder, or MJ throwing him a worried look, or Flash's annoying comment about the strong mint smell, not even that Mr. Stark was standing right next to him.

It was only when the wonderful smell of food got to hisnose that he remembered his surroundings. His appetite might be gone now but his stomach wouldn't stop growling.

He sat with his friends, ned trying to get him to eat at least a bit more. There was a worry in his face. Peter knew they saw how thin he had gotten, he knew they didn't understand May's sudden shift in behavior, he knew he couldn't tell them anything and it must be mind boggeling for them to watch without knowing what was going on.

They were worrying too much, he was fine. Everything was working out somehow.

Chapter Text

Tony sat a bit away from the school class, sunglasses on, having Friday check each and every student. The kid called Eugene Thompson seemed to have it out for Peter, while a Michelle Jones and an Edward Leeds appear to be friends with him. The rest haven't even talked to or looked at Peter once.

When Tony asked Friday for a full medical check of the kid, at least what she could tell him from only the cameras and sensors strewn around the building, he couldn't understand how the kid was still standing.

He was no doctor, well, not in the medical field anyway, but what Friday showed him made very little sense. Heartbeat and breathing where okay, organs functioning normally, no sign of any injuries, However, he was pretty underweight, even more than when he saw Peter last time, heck or when he saw him in that fast food place shoving down one burger after another. His hands were shaking, he walked slow and acted a lot quieter than susual. The circles under his eyes deep and dark. Tony noticed he walked into things and people a hell of a lot more, and in the elevator the kid looked about a million miles away from planet earth.

Most of the signs were right there, but what could he do to help? If he wasn't careful he could end up with a restraning order.

Also, could it mean something that Peter changed from a strong smelling lemon deodorant to an even stronger smelling mint one? Something about this just didn't sit right with him, like he was missing the worst of the signs.

His heart practically sprang out of his chest when one of the kids, the Edward boy, startet yelling.

Moving his attention back to the table the three sat at Tony didn't immediately spot Peter. The words the boy yelled finally made their way into his head.

"Peter! What's wrong?!" Peter was on the floor, his friend kneeling over him.

"Is he choking?" Some other kid asked.

Tony sprang from his seat, words leaving his mouth, telling Friday to contact the med team, Banner, whoever was nearest and could help.

When he made his way over he finally got a good look at Peter. He was writhing on the floor, hands gripping his throat, face red with hives.

The next moments where mostly a blurr to Tony. He barely remembered following Friday's orders, jumping over the food counter, searching for the first aid kit. He found an epi-pen, ran back to Peter and jammed the thing in his leg. Seconds went by with no reaction. The kid continued gaspingfor air.

At some point he remembered picking Peter up, the next thing he was putting him down on a bed, Helen already by the kid's side.

The minutes that followed felt like years, Tony aged and almost fell into his own grave until she finally told him the kid would be okay.

"Bruce had told me about the medication this kid took." She started. "Either he took a lot more or there is something very wrong with him, Tony."

Maybe he did enter his grave and ended up in hell, not unlikely with how he lived his life. As Helen listed all the symptons, explained how she hadn't seen a child in such a condition. She asked if he knew anything, about the sedatives, about the starvation.

Tony had no answers. He knew pretty much all there was to know about this kid, at least everything Friday could help him with, but there was no explanation for whatever it was this kid was going through.

Helen looked the kid over, he was fast asleep, tony told himself, not just unconcius, talked about the possible aftermaths of an anaphylaxic shock. She hooked him up on an IV and connected him to a heart monitor, just in case. When she was done she left, doing whatever it was doctors did whenever they weren't currently helping patients.

He stayed, he didn't know how long, but it was long enough for him to get tired. Had he even slept the last night?

His thoughts were filled with questions as to what happened to Peter, there was no time for him to sleep, no time for him to look away for even a second, to close his eyes. Who was he kidding? Even with his eyes open he was sleeping on this for months now.

What more injuries or health issues were there that he wasn't aware of? Did Helen thoroughly examine him? What if she missed something? What if the kid was actively dying and no one noticed?

Tony stepped towards the bed, looking the kid over. He looked like he was just asleep, he wasn't dead.

Concentrating, shoving the thoughts away, Tony actually looked at him. His face was pale, the dark circles prominant, but no makeup, no bruises or gashes. He carded a hand through Peter's hair, the wavy, brown strands soft, his scalp smooth, no injuries hidden there.

He went down to the kid's arms, pulling Peter's sleeves even further up over his elbows. Nothing there either. The IV connected to his arm, the heart monitor to one of his fingers. Other than the dirt under his nails Tony couldn't find anything there.

Thinking of checking his legs next Tony stopped. He suddenly remembered the stab wound. How could he have forgotten?

In a quick but careful motion he pulled up the hem of the kid's shirt, exposing his stomach. This couldn't be. He could have sworn the stab wound was in his side, but there was nothing there. No wound, no scar, not even healing, red skin. With his free hand he touched over the space where he knew the wound had been. Maybe Peter just covered it with some makeup.

"Tony, you are supposed to attend the team meetings just like everyone else is too." Tony looked up to see Steve walking into the room. The blond man stopped in his tracks, looking from Tony, leaning over and unconcius child, touching said child's exposed stomach, back and forth. "What the hell are you doing?"

Chapter Text

Tony immediately stepped away from Peter.

"I can explain," Tony started. Steve stared at him. "This," He gestured at the sleeping kid. "This is Peter, he's an intern - was an intern, actually."

"Get on with it, Tony."

"If you wouldn't interrupt me, I would get to it sooner, Capsicle." Steve kept on staring. "Okay, Peter is a brilliant kid, wonderful and genius and everything nice, you understand. The problem is that he constantly looks like death personified, I mean, look at him."

Steve did look at the kid, the pale, too thin kid currently connected to an IV line and a heart monitor. He looked back at Tony, motioning for him to continue.

"He lives with his aunt, parents dead, uncle died shortly before I met him, earlier this year. Here comes the problem; I think his aunt is abusing him."

"That is a strong accusation." Steve said

"All the signs are there, Steve, I watched this kid, he tells you some weird story how he got mugged but had an amount of sedation in him that could kill an adult. How is he still alive, Steve? I saw him covering up bruises and wounds, they got infected, he was on the brink of death."

The super soldier looked back at Peter. Finally Tony told someone other than Pepper. She was worried too the more she heard but what could they do when it was Peter who tried to hide all of this from them?

"Two months ago he walked in here, hurt, Banner and Cho took care of him, did goddanm surgery on him. I know this because I sat outside for hours, waiting for this bundle of joy to come out and be okay. I saw the bandages and everything. When his aunt got here she freaked out, accused me of causing all this. The woman revoked her agreement to the internship, Peter had to resign from it because of her. I hadn't had a chance to even talk to the kid since then. Over two monts and suddenly he appears again, looking worse than when he came here with that stab wound infection. Somehow wlaking around and talking, only to have some sort of allergic reaction which I still don't know what caused it."

"Tony, calm down." Tony only notices then how loud he was talking, how erratic his breathing had gotten, how his entire body was shaking.

"Right," He said quietly. "Right, yeah, no. What happened when you came in; I was checking him over for any more injuries. Friday and Helen didn't spot any, but I missed so much before already, I just wanted to make sure he was fine, well he is not, look at him, but at least he isn't dying at the moment." Tony stopped talking. All he had to do now was waiting for Steve to tell him that he was only spewing nonsense and to get punched into next Tuesday.

"Alright, what do we do?" Steve asked.

"What?"

"This sounds bad, so how are you planning on keeping him - Peter - How are you planning on keeping Peter safe?"

"You believe everything I just said?"

Steve laughed. His hard face softened to a smile.

"I didn't doubt for a second there was a reasonable, or at least some kind of explanation. I know you would never hurt someone on purpose, especially not a kid." He came closer, patting Tony on the shoulder. "Now, how do you plan on saving this one?"

Chapter Text

Again, how did he even land himself in situations like this? If he had a nickle for every time he woke up in a Tony Stark owned medical room, confronted with said man and one of the avengers, he would have two nickles, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

The second Peter woke up, which, he couldn't remember falling asleep, he was bombarded with questions to which he had no answers. Could he tell another crazy story of a second mugging or would that be too much to believe?

When he spotted Captain America, sitting in a chair that looked both too small for the very tall and muscular man, and very uncomfortable, he was almost convinced this was a dream, he hadn't woken up, this was just some kind of imagination land he build in his head. Then the exhaustion, hunger and pretty much everything else wrong with him caught up. Definitely not a dream, he thought.

"Tony, let the kid breathe." Captain America said.

Mr. Stark stepped back, giving Peter the space he really needed. He looked from one man to the other, back again. His life had become a complete joke.

"Sorry, I'll," Peter slipped out from under the white blanket, sitting up on the side of the bed. "I'll get going. I am so sorry Mr. Stark, I promise this won't happen ever again. I need to go home, May is probably worried sick again." Peter stood on jittery legs.

"Not so fast." Mr. Stark stepped in front of him, Captain America stood up as well but remained in his spot. "There is no need to think about your aunt right now, everything is going to be okay."

Peter frowned. The man was talking to him in a similar way his uncle had talked to him when they found out about the plane crash.

"Where is May?" Peter asked, somewhere behind him the heart monitor picked up it's pace. Mr. Stark put a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back and making him sit back down on the bed. "Mr. Stark, where is she?" his voice grew lowder.

"Hey, no need to worry, you're safe here," the man said. Safe? What happened that he needed to be safe? "No one is going to hurt you."

Hurt him? He remembers being in the Stark Industries cafeteria and then he was here. Did someone hurt him? No, even if Flash had been in a really bad mood he would have never done soemthing to Peter in such a public place, especially somewhere Tony Stark could easily find out what happened.

"I don't understand," his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes traveling around the room and landing on Captain America. "What's going on?"

"Peter," Mr. Stark said, catching the boy's attnetion again. "I - we - we know that there has been some things you didn't tell us." Peter opened his mouth, the heart monitor going faster. Before e can stutter a single word Mr. Stark continued. "It's okay, you did nothing wrong."

The confusion in peter just rose higher and higher, he didn't know where his aunt was, he can't remember how he got there, two avengers were in this room with him and they didn't want him to leave. Also they seemed to know something he aparently didn't want them to know.

He knew he couldn't have hidden it forever, but just a few years should have really been in it. Of course the greatest genius on earth would connect the dots and figure it out in no time. His days as Spider-Man were over.

"I swear, I can explain-" Mr. Stark didn't let him.

"There is no need for you to tell us anything. We know what has been going on, Pete. We know what your aunt has been doing to you."

"What are you talking about?" What had his aunt to do with him being Spider-Man?

"I am sorry I ignored the signs for so long, I could have gotten out sooner had I just payed a bit more attention. But you don't have to be scared anymore, you don't need to lie to me, to us, anymore. You are save here, Peter, your aunt can't hurt you."

"What?" He couldn't find any other words. His aunt would never hurt him! She did everything to ensure he had a good life. Maybe she was a bit distained and maybe a tiny bit controlling the past few months but there was a reason for that. The two of them were the only Parkers left. How was she supposed to act suddenly having to take care of Peter on her own? He knew he was a handful.

He knew the two could not stand each other but this was going too far. Whatever it was Mr. Stark was accusing his aunt of doing to him was just crazy. He never even imagine calling his hero crazy but this was just a lot.

"No, you got it all wrong, my aunt would never-" He tried to explain but yet again they didn't let him.

"I know this is a lot to take in, we don't have to talk about this right now, just know that you are going to be okay-"

"I am okay now, everything is okay!" They just had to listen to him.

"Peter-" Mr. Stark got interrupted by Friday this time. The voice coming from the speakers allerting him of a certaion Mrs. Parker entering the building looking like she might be about to explode. "Alright, Steve," he turned to Captain America. "You watch Peter and make sure he stays here, I don't him anywhere near this woman. I'll take care of his aunt."

Chapter Text

Peter could only watch as Mr. Stark left the room. Captain America had moved his chair closer, keeping an eye on Peter without directly staring at him.

He tried to reason with the avenger, tried explaining just how wrong they were, that nothing they thought about his family was right. The man merely looked at him with those sad eyes he had seen on too many people throughout his life for way too many reasons. He can't take seeing any more people looking at him like this.

If only he could leave, he could go with Mr. Stark and they could talk it all out. He could try but every time he even adjusts the blanket he can see Captain America move just a tiny bit, getting ready to wrestle a teenager just in case he wanted to get out of bed.

If he was fast enough maybe he could make it to the door, but then he would have to rely on Friday to take him to whereever his aunt and Mr. Stark were.

Peter looked around the room ready to give up any and all hope he had to stop whatever was about to happen. Then he got an idea. It would be even more dificult to explain everything but it could work.

In one swift move he threw the blanket off his body and over Captain America's form, jumping off the bed on the other side and making a run for the window.

All he had to do was making these three steps.

One. There was a pull on his arm.

Two. Behind him something fell.

Three. He jumped, covering his face with his arms, bracing for the impact with the glass. The shards stabbed his arms, but the wind of the cool night air was enough of a relief that he barely felt it. What he did feel was the yank on the back of his shirt and the air not making it to his lungs.

He was pulled back up. No, he was so close.

Planting his feet on the outside of the building wall, using his sticky power to stay right there, he twisted his body backwards. Looking up he saw Captain America's panicked look watching him, an arm stretched out grasping at Peter's clothes.

Peter, knowing if he didn't escape this man right now there might not be another Parker to call his family anymore. He squatted horizontally on the Building wall, grabbing the avenger's arm, using a lot more of strength than he anticipated to, to loosen the man's grip and jumped in a backwards flip. It worked, he was falling. He was free. Now all he had to do was to find May and Mr. Stark.

For too long now senses and powers were off, he was weaker and no matter how hard he tried he could not find his aunt's voice anywhere in this building. All he heard was the air rushing past his ears.

The old fashioned way it was. Making another flip mid-fall he turned his body right side up, reaching for the wall and coming to a halt somewhere halfway down the building.

It was a bit tedius and would take quite some time, but he had to check every room there was light in to find them.

Jumping from window to window he checked every room he could find with a light on. It took forever to find them, he probably scared a few people and only after having gone a few levels down did he realise he hadn't hidden his face for the entire time.

Whatever, he could probably deal with this somehow, later, now he had a mission.

When he finally found them his hands were cold, his face and ears burning from the wind.

His aunt and Mr. Stark were in the lobby, of course they were. Why had't he checked there first? Stupid, he could have saved so much time. Didn't matter, he did find them, now he only had to get between what looked like a screaming battle.

Dropping down in front of the main entrance peter ran right inside.

"May!" Peter called, running towards the two adults screaming at each other. How glad he was it was late and not many employees were still around. Both stopped their verbal fight to look at the boy coming towards them with quite some surprise.

"Where is Steve, I told him to watch you." Mr. Stark said, putting himself between the two Parkers.

"You had someone keeping watch on Peter? What gave you the right keeping him away from his family?!" Yelled May.

"Of course I am the bad guy after saving this kid from whatever you did to him!" The screaming continued, Peter not able to get a word in. "Why don't you tell me why you locked away Peter for two months?"

"Mr. Stark that's not-"

"If you must know I had to keep my nephew away and save from people like you, taking him from me, hurting him in whatever dangerous experioments you tried on him!"

"May, no one-"

"That's funny, you see, because it was you who drugged him until he could barely stand upright anymore!"

"But she didn't-" No matter what he tried, how loud he yelled, they would not listen.

Peter lost all sense of logic. Why in the world would they think the other would ever hurt him? He always tried to tell them, he tried to make sense of whatever fantasies they had, but no matter the words he used, all they heard was what they wanted to believe.

"Peter, you're staying at SI until we can take care of this matter." What?

"Peter, you are coming home right now, first thing tomorrow we'll go to the police." What?

"Peter, you don't have to-"

"Peter, let's go home-"

"Peter-"

"Peter-"

"Why don't you listen?" He yelled. Finally the adults were quiet, maybe now they would pay attention to his words. "No one, not you," he pointed at Mr. Stark. "Nor you," He pointed at May. "Have ever hurt me! Why don't you two just listen?"

"You don't need to lie anymore. You can stay here-"

"I'm not lying, I don't want to stay here!"

"That's right Pete, we're going home-"

"No I don't want to go home! Just listen to me!"

They kept on talking, they both said tehy knew what was best for him, that he should go with her, no stay wit him, no go home, no, no, no. Nothing was right. Hs aunt was getting into serius trouble with the wealthiest and most genius man in this country, meanwhile Mr. Stark was kind of creating a kidnapping scandal that could cost him everything.

All because of Peter.

If he didn't get hurt in the first place none of this would have happened. If it wasn't for him becoming Spider-Man, none of this would have happened. Each and everything that has ever happened to him was because he was who he was. He had to fix this somehow, but how would you fix something this big?

Then it clicked. Why didn't he just remove the problem? If he thought about it, it was so much easier than trying to get them to undertsand. If the problem was gone, there was no need for anyone to get into this much trouble over literally nothing.

While Peter hadn't noticed he was crying, the adults had gotten back to screaing at each other, trying to push the guilt of causing him to cry to the other.

"May,I love you." She didn't react. "Mr. Stark, thank you." The yelling was just too loud. While they were in their own world, throwing as many hurtful accusations as they liked at each other Peter turned around, slowly walking back towards the exit. When he reached the door he looked back one last time, engraving their angry faces into his memories. THis might be the last time he sees them.

Outside the cold air greeted him yet again. He hoped the New York seasons would go easy on him.

Chapter Text

Tony didn't know how long it took them to realise Peter as gone. By the time Steve had come running into the lobby explaining what happened, the team right behind him, ready to search the entire city for a kid they didn't even know, Peter had completely disappeared.

According to Friday's cameras the kid had just walked rigth out of the building. No one had stopped him. He was so caught up in yelling at May Parker that he ignored what this was all about.

A few days had gone by, May and him had come to an agreement of some sorts that they wouldn't sue each other for as long as it took to find Peter. Tony needed to know everything she knew about her nephew and May needed all the fancy tech Tony had.

Every team meeting was now about mostly Peter, him being a missing child that had just disappeared from right under their noses. Worse of all, the more Tony listened to Steve's report from when Peter had apparently jumped out the window - he hadn't even registered the cuts clearly visibal all ove his arms in the camera footage - the less it made sense.

He can't remember how many times he had asked his teammate if he was sure the kid was able to get out of his grip, if he was sure he didn't just slip free by accident, sweaty grabbers or whatever it could ahve been. He could also not understand how Peter could have survived the fall all the way down to the main entrance. There was no camera footage from outside the buiding, all they had was what Steve could make out in the dark and none of it explained anything.

"Tony, are we sure Peter doesn't have powers?" Asked Natasha. "According to Steve he as fast for the condition he was in, seemed to know exactly what he was doing, survived a fall well over 400ft, no normal human would have survived, there is nothing on the outside of the building that he could have held on to or that could have slowed the fall."

He knew that would be the easiest explanation but was it the most logical? Maybe. May Parker stated Peter had never shown any signs of super human behiour. They even asked his friends who also denied knowing of anything.

Together the team went over each and every ever so small detail they could find out about Peter.

"I'm still not entirely convinced he was mugged." Stated Bruce. Some of the team went to look at the report from the day Peter underwent surgery, reading over his statements again. "Do we have anything on this Lemony person?"

"Nothing, the description the kid gave wasn't really helpful, a shadow he didn't notice, gotten sprayed with something. Could that have been the drug?" Tony speculated.

"Might have, no actual way of knowing but it would be our best bet."

Tony looked around the team, hoping for at least of them to have anyhting else to say, anything at all that might help. Then his gaze landed on Nat and Clint, both having the same experssion on their faces. They knew something.

"What do you have?" He asked them. Both looked up knowing he was talking to the assassin duo. Clint spoke first.

"It might be something, but you won't like it."

"I don't care if I like it or not, I just want to find the kid."

"Alright." Clint sat up a bit straighter in his chair. "We got from multiple sources that about a week before everything the only significant thing people noiced change about him was that he suddenly smelled very strongly of lemons," Tony didn't understand what his team mate was getting at so far, he just hoped there would be something. "When I met Spidey," Clitn looked around, making sure he got everyones' attention. "I picket up his bag and it smelled like it was bathed in lemon juice. It might just be a coincidence but," He stopped talking, motioning for Nat to continue.

"When Spider-Man and I fougth this guy dressed in black, he sprayed Spidey with something that smelled strongly of mint, shortly after you meet Peter again and you notice he smells like Mint, so strong even his classmates made comments on it." Nat held Tony's gaze as the team watched his brain count together two and two in real time.

"Peter is Spider-Man. That is what you two are telling me." They don't nod but the way they looked at Tony they might just have. "And I don't see a way he could not be." He said defeated.

"So, if we find Spider-Man, we might find Peter?" Steve asked. "Do we have any information on the vigilante, has he even appeared since Peter has gone missing?"

"Both have disappeared since that day. Clint and I have been patrolling his usual territory with no leads whatsoever." Nat went back to the piles of paper in front of her.

"Alright, find a spider, get a free kid. We'll find him." He said it more to himself than to the team. Tony didn't know how much longer he could live like this, not knowing what had happened to the kid, especially in the state he was in.

Chapter Text

Peter had utterly underestimated New York's streets. It was cold and dirty, people were either rude or even dangerous to be around. Thanks to his powers he had an advantage but with no access to a lab there was only so much web fluid he was able to get from his room before May would have gotten home after the fight she and Mr. Stark had had.

If only he would have taken a bigger backpack with him. The one he was able to pack was probably the smallest he owned, the sipper broken and underside could break at any second. It was probably held together by nothing but thoughts and prayers. He was always at risk of having all his belongings falling out, inkluding whatever little food he could find, and his spider suit. On colder days he wore it under his clothes, the thin material giving him just that little bit extra warmth.

Well, until he could get his hands on any ducttape or could find a sewing kit lying around somewhere he had to make it work.

The biggest problem wasn't even losing everything he owned, or how each night the air got just a little bit colder, no, it was how he was supposed to get food. He was still as hungry as ever, even when he didn't go out as Spider-Man for quite some time he was still always starving.

On May's income he already had difficulties getting enough food for his stomach to not cramp each night, how was he supposed to do that with no money at all? He thought about photosynthesis, but sadly he was bitten by a radioactive spider and not a radioactive plant. He wondered what would have happened to him then? Would he have turned green and fallen in love with a super smart, yet crazy person? Maybe.

Back on track, food, how was he not starving? There were a few shops that would give him a few dollars for working there a day or two. It was way below minimum wage, but better than nothing. One shop owner even gave him a bar of soap for free after a week of living on the streets. The public bathrooms in parks weren't the most private, or save, but he could manage. And when he cried himself to sleep once in a while that was his buisness. Those were happy tears because now no one had to take care of him. No one was getting sued because he was messing up everything.

At least now no one would even think about him. May could work less, she wouldn't have to get extra money for Peter, she wouldn't have to pay for more school books Flash constantly destroyed. And she wouldn't have to look at Peter anymore. No reminder of what happened to Ben.

Mr. Stark would also not have to risk his neck for him anymore. No annyoing intern that gets him into trouble with May. No one to distract the man from his inventions or keep him from the avengers because Peter had an infected stab wound. He could take care of such things on his own.

He could walk down the bustling streets of New York City, on his own. He could find a place to sleep that was save, on his own. He could take care of dangerous individuals who where trying to steal his bag, on his own. He could take care of the wounds afterwards, on his own. He could do everything, on his own.

He could take care of someone suddenly appearing next to his sleeping form. He could do this. On his own.

Chapter Text

There was a small voice inside Peter that just hoped that someone was Mr. Stark. The man had shown more care for him than most people his entire life. There you see a billionaire in a fast food place, next thing you know you get an internship under said billionaire. Not just that but he was the genius of this generation. In the media he always seemed so far away, cut off from anyone else, but Peter got to meet him. Always hovering, making sure he was alright. Peter barely got to spent time with him, had barely a week of working on projects. But why would Mr. Stark be there?

Maybe it was May. Their presence at least felt like he knew them. He had to admit, he missed May's home cooked food, however burned it was, however cold when he took it out of the fridge. He missed hearing her comments about the shows she watched or hearing her laugh over her own awful jokes. He missed just having a note from her, not seeing her for several days, but she always worried.

Sadly there was another voice, almost too loud, that urged Peter to jump up and run.

Before he could fully open his sleep riddled eyes he rolled out of the way and sprang up on his feet. His vision was still blurry when he had to dodge a, by now, too familar dart.

Of course it couldn't have been May or Mr. Stark. Now, why would luck be on his side?

"What the-" Peter tried saying but was forced to focus on not getting hit rather than to question how he had found him.

Lemony stood before him, dart gun in hand pointed at Peter. Peter, who was not wearing his suit, who was without a mask. No one knew, he never told anyone, not even when he was a delirius mess and caused so much trouble.

"How did you find me?"

No answer. Since when did Lemony honor him by talking? He was just a shadow that loved playing cat and spider. Hunting Spider-Man like it was a game. A game that, Peter liked to think, he wasn't very good at. Maybe Peter was wrong. For awhile he hadn't seen anyone he knew, not May, not Mr. Stark, although that man was persistent on finding Peter before, so that was almost a surprise, no Ned, no MJ, no one. And yet, somehow, Lemony had found him, without his mask.

But he could do this. He had fought him a few times already, this time the guy wouldn't get to spray him with whatever it was that smelled to strong.

The fight went as it always did; Peter dodged pretty much everything, Lemony obviously not liking that and getting angrier the longer this went on.

And Peter was worried about this. With other regular people he couldn't just hit them or walk up the walls to flee, but this one somehow found out his identity. So, no holding back. He could do this, just like when he was in the suit, when he had a full stomach and his entire body didn't scream at him with every movement.

With the little food he had the jumping around made him a little bit dizzy. That or he did get a concussion from when those guys tried to steal his bagpack. Probably the second. He did get a bad headache from that. He thought the throwing up was just part of being this hungry, probably not. Whatever, he was still alive.

What he was trying to get at was that he didn't feel his best. Not even his medium, more closer to worst. But still better than when he had that stab wound. So, he should get over with Lemony.

He had to take care of him. A villain knowing his identity was not a good thing. It was very, very bad in fact. If Lemony were to get away again he could go around and tell the entire world. Then Peter would have nowhere to go. He couldn't imagine how many people there might be out on these streets that would just love to get a good hit in on a homeless vigilante.

If he just could get closer, Peter could come out the winner, no disappearing villain. The problem, other than him feeling not at all good, was that Lemony seemed to shoot more and faster darts than usual. With his body this exhausted, his senses having been off for months already, he didn't know who would actually come out the winner.

But it had to be him.

If Peter didn't win this one his life would be over. May would hate him, Mr. Stark would be disappointed, his friends would never want to see him again. But all that wasn't as bad as he first thought.

It was him who abandoned all of them. Why would they even spent a secind thinking about him? What, other than people recognizing him, would actually happen if people knew? There were no connection anymore.

No, he had to keep going. And he kept going even when his entire body screamed at him to stop, when his head rang, when his tired muscles protested, when there was a small prick in his leg, and another and his shoulder, and another in his neck. Even when his fist didn't hit the shadow of a person but the ground. Even when Peter's eyes slipped shut and the last thing he saw was Lemony's form standing over him.

Chapter Text

Tony loved that he had written everything over to Pepper, that she was head of SI. She was brilliant, way better than him at doing all this paper and meetings stuff. Yet when it came to the inspections of the inventions, there was only so much she could do.

Every now and again she would ask him to look over some things, explained that, yes, they had experts overviewing the employees and interns, but she rather make sure that he was okay with everything they worked on. In her eyes he was still important to the company.

Tony had to admit, he did like it when she wanted his opinion, but right now he couldn't care less if his company was opening a portal to the underworld. He just wanted to find Peter. It's beena few weeks now, they hadn't had any sightings of either the kid or Spider-Man. He was still not entirely sure he could believe that this wonderful kid was supposed to be a crime fighting vigilante, running around the city in spandex, all that without either his aunt or the avengers figuring it out.

Either Peter Parker was smarter than Tony gave him credit for, or he they were wrong about this. Against all teh evidence pointing at the first, there was the slightest hope inside him that they were wrong. Let Peter just be a normal teenager that never had to even think about keeping a secret identity, or what dangers would come with it.

The elevator doors opened, bringing Tony back into reality. His sunglasses on, together with a bright smile, he walked into the last lab he had to check ebfore he could finally go back to staring at screens without finding any answers.

"Alrighty, people, let me see what genius you all got up to." He clapped his hands to make sure he got everyones attention. Barely moving his head he looked at each and every work bench, doing a head count. While the interns had their hands full with hastilly organizing themselves Tony moved over to the supervising employee. "One of your kids is missing, could you show me what they were working on?"

The supervisor immediately went to the empty workbench, searching the cabinets for the intern's project. While Tony had a second for himself he whispered for Friday to check out the missing intern. Usually everyone got a headsup before he appeared in the labs. Meeting him of all people wasn't a regular occurance, especially having the Tony Stark look over your work is something no one wanted to miss. So, when someone was absent from such an important day he got currious.

A moment later the screen on the inside of his glasses showed the missing intern's personal file. Tony immediately recognized the smug face and perfectly combed hair. It was him that made comments about Peter's class being a danger in the labs. Tony also clearly remembers the looks the guy gave Peter for his appearance. All polite to the genius inventor, but show him someone of the middle class or under and suddenly they are not worth any kindness.

Back then Tony had barely paid it any mind, of course he was annoyed that someone would speak like that over school kids, over Peter, but when he thought back to his own self just a decade ago, he wasn't that much better.

But for someone like that to miss a day like this, something must have happened. Accroding to Friday the intern hadn't called in sick, no call or e-mail that stated he would be missing this particular day.

"Everyone, please stay at your stations, Mr. Stark will be going around and talking to you all, no need to run around." The supervisor called through the room as he went back to stand next to Tony, an invention in his arms.

Tony shoved the weird feeling he had about the missing intern to the back of his head, together with everything else he had gathered there, the thought of Peter trying to come up every now and again.

The Supervisor had learned by now that Tony would not take anything people offered to him. He stretched out his arms letting Mr. Stark get a good look at the invention. Tony only listened with half an ear when the man started talking about the intern, something else had caught his focus; a specific smell.

Chapter Text

Peter went in and out of conciousness. Somewhere he knew this was becoming kind of repetitive. Sadly, this time, he could not figure out where he was. No hospital bed, no Mr. Stark at his side. He couldn't see, his body felt cramped and the more he tried to keep his eyes open, if they even were, the stronger he was pulled back under again.

He couldn't keep up with how often he woke up, from one moment to the next the sounds and smells of his surroundings changed; first were the typical sounds of a New Yorker Night, next he could hear people talk, the sound of metal on metal, then whatever he was in, probably some kind of container, rattled, shaking is entire body. The next moment his eyes were assaulted by bright lights as he rolled over and out of his confinement.

He blinked the burn away, his teary eyes looking around frantically. Whereever he was, he didn't like it. Bare concrete walls, the floor covered with a see through tarp. The room he was in had similar machines a doctor's lab would have. Seeing the bare metal tabel in the center he was more reminded of a morgue.

Peter put his arms, still so weak and numb, under him. He could manage at least one push up, staying on the floor was a bad idea.

Pushing until his body shook he almost made it in an upright sitting position. Until someone kicked his arms out from under him causing Peter to hit his face onto the floor.

The Tarp crinkled as the person who had kicked him walked around. Peter tried to get his arms under him again, his senses finally getting the memo that this was a horrible situation to be in. His danger sense was screaming, telling him to move. And he tried, with the little control over his body he could muster Peter reached out one hand in front of him, gripping the tarp and pulling himself away from whoever was now behind him.

There was laughter, then hands on his ankles and suddenly he was right back where he had started.

"This would be hilarious if you weren't just so disgusting." Peter stopped moving. He knew that voice. Just once had he heard it before.

Turning his head around he saw him; Still dressed in all black, whatever upgrated weapons he had still on his belt, but the mask was missing. His hair was a bit dampened, his forehead covered in sweat, those eyes yet again looking at him with such hatred.

"Why?" Peter croaked out, his throat dry and closing up.

"Because people like you don't deserve to exist," Lemony said, squatting down, now closley over Peter's body. Peter's senses were going wild, yet he could barely feel them. Lemony - because Peter still had no idea what this guy's name was - suddenly grabbed him under his arms, pulling them both up into a standing position. Peter tried resisting with little effect, all that got him was that Lemony threw him back, right onto the metal table. "That's why."

Before Peter had the chance to comprehend what way his body was facing now, there were already shackles on his arms and legs, some even going over his forehead and chest. If he had felt trapped before, that was nothing to actually being tied up.

"Oh, don't look so scared, I won't hurt you." If only Peter could believe that. How do you beliefe a duy that has kidnapped and was probably about to torture you? Especially when he was turned away from you, fiddling with something out of Peter's sight. "I just have to do some research on whatever it is you are." Finally he turned back around, even though Peter now wished he didn't. In his hands was a tray with various items that he could only call torture instruments.

Gathering all his strength, Peter struggled against his restraints.

"Don't even try it, you'll just make this more tedious for me." Peter noticed too late that he was only losing more control of his body. His limbs falling, unmoving as his eyes were adament on falling shut. He could only watch as this rude guy of an Intern prepared whatever it was he wanted to use on Peter.

Chapter Text

Tony stormed into the avengers' common room, having had Friday call everyone there ebforehand.

"Tony, what's going on?" Steve asked.

"Did you find Peter?" Clint, who just sat on the sofa stood right back up, expression series.

"Nat," Tony found the assassin leaning over the back of an armchair, probbed up on her elbows. "You saw when Spidey was sprayed with that mint scent, how close was Lemony?" He watched the realization on her face grow by the second.

"Close enough to have gotten a good amount of it on himself." She stood up straight, everyone readying themselves for what - who - Tony had found.

"Friday, pull up his address and any other place in his name, and be it a locker in a gym, I want to know where he is."

Holo screens blinked into existence all over the common room, the team members taking in everything while Tony explained why they were suddenly going after an SI intern.

"When Peter was here I saw him talk to this intern who was extremely rude to him. I didn't notice it then because Pete was right there next to me, but he wasn't the only one with that excessive mint smell." He motioned to one of the screens, Friday pulling it into the middle of the room, enlarged for everyone to see. "This is what that guy has been working on right under my nose. That scent is all over it, I had Friday check if it was the same thing Peter had on him and," another screen showing some science he didn't expect everyone to understand. "Bingo."

Bruce looked from the science back to the invention of this intern, his face morphing into confusion. On another screen he found the notes the intern had on his work, quickly skipping through that the confusion disappeared, replaced by a fearful rage.

"Tony, have you read what this says?" Bruce asked.

"Glad we think alike. the supervisor said he hadn't worked on this one for some time, so I expect he has an upgraded version somewhere that I hope is not on his person."

Having Friday relay the most important information about this intern, the avengers suited up.

For Tony it was merely a press of a button for his suit to engulf his form, ready in just a moment. He could use his suit to fly anywhere in the world, search for any person, defeated entire organizations on his own, yet he couldn't find Peter. Spider-Man or not, he was still just a kid.

Had he only listened, had he only looked at Peter for one second that evening.

A hand on his shoulder, Steve, pushed him forwards. The team waited. Peter waited.

Those stupid patriotic eyes, saying more words than the man even knew of, and he knew quite a few for his old timey self.

Together, because the team would always be by his side, helping him find a kid they didn't even know, they were on their way to his house. Whatever time it took them to get there, evena second was an entire year for Tony.

There was an elderly couple, the intern's parents no doubt, who demanded they explain themselves. While Tony took apart the apartment in search of anything, be it only a single hair of those messy locks, the rest of the tea questioned the parents, looked more carefully through whatever paperwork they could find.

It was maybe an hour, or was it two, that they spend in this apartment that was empty. Full of furniture, pictures of a family growing up together, things that made it a home, but empty. No Peter. Friday couldn't find any track that he had even set foot in a fifteen miles radius of this place.

"Sir," Came Firdays voice in his helmet.

"If you are interrupting me without any new information on this goddamn intern I will give you a virus."

"Sir, the intern has just entered Stark Industries, an unidentified person in a wheelchair by his side. Said person's face is hidden but my sensors have detected that it is a male individual with similar height and weight measurements to those of Mr. Parker."

Chapter Text

The entire night Peter had been poked and prodded at, it was a miracle that he had any blood still in his body after Lemony, had taken one sample after another. He was even weaker than before, he felt clammy, it was hard to breathe, and the next time he opened his eyes he was back in the lobby of Stark Industries. Had it all just been a dream?

Peter realised quickly that, no, it had not all just been a dream. He tried moving his arm only to find he couldn't. Moving his head was already so difficult, but when he finally looked down at himself the confusion in him only rose. He was in some kind of chair, sitting mostly upright. There was a blanket thrown over his body, his arms, that were most likely bound to this chair, hidden under it.

When he tried to open his mouth he noticed there was something in front of his face. A mask. Not his mask, just a regular face mask. There was nothing obstructing his mouth, he could open and close it, yet no sound came out.

"Try whatever you want, you can't escape." There was the voice of Lemony, a whisper in Peter's ear. The only reaction his body could give was the hairs on his neck rising. Only then did he notice that it wasn't his senses that tried to warn him, it was merely a normal body reaction. For a long time in a while a lobby full of people did not give him an immediate headache. THe bright lights didn't sting his eyes, he didn't feel like everything was just too much.

Just what had Lemony done to him? Had Peter just stayed awake. Had he just payed more attention to his surroundings.

His surroundings. He was at Stark Industries. He could't imagine a better place. Once Mr. Stark saw him he would be saved. The man was a genius, by now he must have figures out that one of the interns was a mad scientist. Peter had always imagined meeting one, he did not recommend this experience at all.

Lemony pushed him forward. Peter realised that he was in a wheelchair.

Oh, a wheelchair, a blanket over half his body, a face over his mask. Who would take a closer look at him? Even if someone would notice that he probably looked half dead, who would think he was in danger? The way Lemony leaned in to talk right into his ear probably made him look like a good guy, helping some sick kid.

Without being able to talk or move, Peter was done for. He could only hope.

And hope seemed to is all he needed in this moment. Lemony was pushing him right towards Mr. Hogan.

"Tickets." The man said like he said the same thing for hours already. Peter heard Lemony shuffle behind him before a hand came into his field of vision, an internship badge and something else in his hand. He showed both to Happy. Peter staired like his life depended on it, maybe it actually did, willing the grumpy man to just look at him. "Follow me." He said. Peter's heart skipped a beat, in a good way. Mr. Hogan really deserved his position as head of security.

Lemony pushed Peter in front of him, following the man down a seperate entrance deeper into the building. This was it, they figured out Lemony is the big bad evil guy. Soon he would find Mr. Stark and his aunt behind one of these corners ready to bring him back home.

Mr. Hogan stopped at a corner, pointing for Lemony to go past and through an open standing door. The adrenaline was making Peter dizzy. Either that or whatever Lemony had done to him.

They turned, walked through the door, and right there was... no one. It was an empty room.

Let go of the Wheelchair, walking around it and coming to a stop in front of Peter. One look at the younger teen and the older one burst out laughing.

"Oh, you," He had difficulties getting the words out inbetween laughter. "You didn't think - oh my god, you did." Whatever expecting expression Peter had on his face died. "No one will come and save you, I mean - why would they?"

Lemony's glee was interrupted by the notification sound of his phone. He leaned down, reaching out and grabbing at the mask on Peter's face, pulling it this and that way, probably making sure it wouldn't slip off.

"Just a bit longer, then everything will be over."

Chapter Text

Tony was the first out of that apartment, ignoring Steve calling after him. He had to get back to SI, and if he were going back alone, right now there was not a second he was going to waste.

At some point Friday mentioned Pepper trying to call him, he should ahve probably told her, could have had her ring alarm, lock down the entire building. But he didn't. No, he only thought about himself, how he was the only one who could save Peter, how it was supposed to be him. It was supposed to be Tony to keep the kid save in the first place. In his attempt to do just that he had pushed Peter away right into harms way.

Just a bit more, he could already see the lights of the building, the crowd of people slowly filing inside. What?

He zoomed in on one of the posters lining the entrance. That was today. In front of an audience all Interns had the chance to show off one of their inventions. The best five would either get the opportunity to work for SI fulltime, or get referred to another company they'd rather work at, that might specially in something else that Stark Industries didn't offer.

That's why Pepper had asked him to check even the intern labs.

In just a few hours the entire building filled itself with hundreds of civilians, finding Peter would be even more difficult than finding Waldo, that guy at least had an unusual appearance.

"Sir, Mr. Hogan has shown them into one of the preparation rooms, there are no cameras inside." Said Friday.

"Happy, tell Happy about the situation, have him surround the room. No one is going in or out of there until I say otherwise!"

He put just a bit more power into the thrusters of his suit, hoping, wishing, he would get there before anything else could happen.

Flying over the crowd, some cheering some screaming, he flew right into the corridor that led towards the preparation rooms. In front of the door he found Happy, guarding it.

"No one left this room since I got here." The man reported as Tony landed next to him. Not waiting for that to change he went for the door, only to find the room inside empty.

"Friday, where are they?" Tony yelled into his mask.

"I can not find them, sir."

"Shit!" He swore. Peter was right there, in this building, his building. The world's best AI watching their every move and they got away still.

"Tony," Pepper's angelic voice yelled somewhere behind him. "What is going on here? Do you have any idea how many times I tried to call you?" Her clacking heels came closing.

"Pep, listen to me," Her heels stopped. He turned around to find her in a new suit he had gotten her, the color bringing out her captivating eyes. "Peter is somewhere in this building but we don't know where, Friday can't find him. When you see him, don't get any closer, tell me, and keep away. If you can, get the people to leave, I don't care how, set something on fire if you think that will do it."

"Tony - what? - Peter is here?"

"No time to explain, if you see him, what do you do?"

"I'll tell you, yes, but Tony, what is going on?"

Before she could demand an answer from him he was already flying away again.

"Friday, check everything, each camera you got." He flew high over the crowd, this one not in the lobby but in a different room, a huge hall with a stage the interns would soon start presenting their inventions. "Let's play where is Waldo."

Chapter Text

Right after Lemony had gotten that notification they left the room. With all the turns he took and each and every hallway looking the exact same Peter had no idea where they were going. Sometimes he blinkt and he wasn't sure if had fallen back asleep or not. Peter blinked and suddenly they were in another room. It was dark, he could hear the sound of people walking and talking somewhere in the distance.

When Lemony walked in front of Peter the next time, he was fiddling with something in his hands. Without his heightened senses, his eye sight so blurry, almost the way they were back when he still needed glasses, there was no way for him to make out what it was that Lemony held.

His eyes. It wasn't just almost, it was exactly the same way as back then. He felt weak like he hadn't in months, he had a hard time breathing through nothing but a cloth mask, he couldn't see. Had Lemony taken away his powers?

Peter felt the panic rise in him, his breath quickening. Not good, if he was right, then having a meltdown right about now would be a very, very bad idea. Peter didn't even know if his inhaler still existed somewhere in teh depths of his room in May's apartment, but point was, if he were to have an attack, he would have to caugh and gasp his way through it.

Deep breaths, he could breathe through the mask. Just stay calm.

"You seem a bit too energized for my liking." Lemony said. He stopped fiddling with the something, all his attention now back on Peter. Stepping closer, he just watched him for a moment. Lemony's brows furrowed, then he reached out, just like before when he fixed the mask, only this time he ripped it right off Peter's face.

The only sound in the dark room where those of Peter's small gasps. His lungs working overtime trying to both, suck as much air in, as well as not letting any out.

"You got to be kidding me." Lemony muttered, watching Peter for a few more seconds, then, a bit uneasy, looking around the room. Peter was sure even with the lights on, there wouldn't have been anything to help him in this moment. "Months of planning, all could be for nothing because the oh-so-great Spider-Man can't even breathe properly." He turned back to look at Peter.

In a sad attempt to help, which was actually quite the surprise for Peter, Lemony threw off the blanket, revealing the shackles arounf Peter's legs and arms. He reached back fishing out a set of keys, judging by the jingle of it.

In one hand he held the keys, in the other he held Peter's wrists in a frim grip, but that's where he stopped. Whatever internal monolog this guy was having, Peter hoped he would be finding an answer quickly.

It took him a few seconds but it seemed Lemony came to a decission. He freed Peter's arms, standing up and pulling them with him until they hang over Peter's head. This might have worked a bit better was Peter not in a very stressfull.

When Peter just kept on wheezing, his breathing not getting any better, Lemony let threw his arms back down.

"You are not going to ruin this for me."

Okay, at least his incapable lungs had one good thing to them. Whatever that was, Lemony did absolutely not like it. The intern walked around the room for a few moments, searching for something. Peter's eyes started to tear up, he could only hear things crashing on the floor.

Lemony cursed under his breath, walked behind Peter and on they went again. Whereever he was taking him, Peter hoped it was somewhere with a bit more air. Probably not, but he could still dream.

His blurry surroundings swam around, he blinked and it was bright again, he blinked and everything was loud. He heard people scream. The wheelchair shook an then Peter wasn't sitting anymore. Blinking away some of the tears he saw Lemony walking around, a crowd of people all staring at him.

Peter finally realised what the guy had been fiddling with. A gun. Of course, everyone in america had a gun, especially the villains. What else could it have been?

Chapter Text

He screams at the crowd, a gun in his hand, pointing wildly around the room, at specific people who just so happened to have looked him in the eyes, and behind him, where Peter lay on the ground, unmoving.

Tony might as well have a heart attack, that would have probably stressed him less.

The guy kept on screaming, an introduction, like he was just one of the interns presenting his invention. It seemed the guy hadn't noticed Ironman lying above him, calculating his next best move to ensure as little people as possible would get hurt, none would be ideal, really.

How the intern had gotten on teh stage without Friday spotting them anywhere in the building beforehand was still a mystery to Tony, a security issue he had to resolve later, now he had to make sure if Peter was still alive and how he could keep it that way.

"Friday, tell me what you see."

"The gun is no ordinary one, it is modified to not shoot just metal bullets but is used rather as a dart gun. I can not discern what chemicals might be in them." She explained. So, the gun would be priority number one, still. "His emotional status is unstable, there is no way of predicting what his next move might be."

"Tell me something I can't see myself."

"Mr. Parker appears to be breathing, but with increasing difficulty. According to his medical records he has asthma. If this is not treated, he might fall unconscious or possibly suffer long term effects."

"Okay, get rid of the gun, get the kid some air, doesn't sound too complicated." Tony readied his repulser, aiming for the intern's gun. If only he wouldn't point it around so much, Tony could get a good shot in without possible endangering any more people.

"You see this boy behind me?" The intern yelled, pointing the gun behind him, at Peter. Tony caught the kid barely moving his head. Still conscious. "He looks just like a normal kid, like you and me, doesn't he? Well, what if I were to tell you that he wasn't? I have spend months studying his every action, watched and learned what he was capable of, and quickly I came to one conclusion. This boy is nothing but an abominatio."

Tony did not where this was going. The room was still fileld with people, even cameras pointed at the stage. He had to act quickly or this might end very bad for the kid.

"Friday, a little assistance here, please." If only this guy would stop moving for more than half a second.

The intern walked backwards until he stood next to Peter.

"I have taken samples of his blood, his DNA was nothing I have ever seen before; It was just not entirely human." Finally he stood still. Not so lucky he was now pointing the gun right at Peter, who still lay there, not moving, barely breathing.

Now or never. Tony took the shot.

The gun flew out of the interns hand, landing not far enough away from them. The guy looked up, taking Ironman's presence in for the first time.

"Mr. Stark, perfect timing." He yelled over. "I was just getting started, you will be very interested in what I have discovered, sir." The smug smile and hopeful, yet crazy look in his eyes made Tony sick.

Flying closer, Tony now hovered a foot over the stage. He had hoped the suit would intimidate the intern enough to step back a bit, however, he only got closer to Peter, grabbing the boy by the arm and heaving him up like some fish he had caught, wanting to present it.

Peter had never looked worse. How was it that when Tony thougth he had seen Peter like he had walked through hell, that there would always be a next time proving it could always get worse.

Chapter Text

"How about you come over, let's have a chat about it." Tony said in the most convincing relaxed tone he could muster at the moment, which, if he was honest, was not his best, he sounded more relaxed trapped in a cave, with a car battery connected to his heart.

"No, you see, this boy, you have met him before, in the intern lab," with his free hand, the he pointed at Peter, then at Tony. "I warned you back then, but you didn't understand, so I took it in my own hands to actually do something about this problem."

Tony was ready to shoot the guy. He was one word from possibly reaviling Peter's identity. Other than that he didn't seem to be a danger anymore, no gun on his person, but he was still holding Peter up.

"I had been working on this for way longer already, sadly I could only ever put a power weakener on him, it was like he had eyes on the back of his head, it was nearly impossible to hit him with the solution-"

"What solution?" Tony asked, his relaxed act all gone.

"Right, I haven't explained that part yet." He let go of Peter, letting him drop like he was a sack of potatoes. Tony cringed at the sound it made.

The intern patted down his pants, then putting his hands in every possible pocket he could find. Tony snapped back to attention, the high pitched sound of his gauntlet getting the attention of the intern.

"Mr. Stark, careful with that, you are pointing at the wrong person." He chuckled, removing his hands from his pockets, in one of them was a small capsule he now held out to Tony.

Friday did a quick analysis. The content of the capsule was anything but good. A solution that would remove any and all inhuman abilities. Basicially an anti mutation drug. But it was nowhere near even good. Tony would be surprised if it did anything more than poison someone.

"Mr. Stark, your gauntlet."

"You tried using this on the kid?"

In a second he had forgotten all about having a weapon pointed at him. He went right back to his presentation posture.

"Oh, I didn't only try, I succeeded." He said all proud and smiles. Before he could continue his explanation as to what he had done to Peter something small flew right past Tony, hitting the intern in the shoulder, causing him to seize up and then fall to the ground, next to Peter.

Tony looked back, finding his team had finally arrived.

"What did we miss?" Nat asked, walking over to the stage. It was her widow bite that had hit the intern.

Landing on the stage himself Tony walked over to were Peter was, still gasping for air.

"It's alright kiddo, we're here, you're gonna be alright." Tony watched those big brown eyes look at him, wide with fear. Asthma, what was he supposed to do with asthma?

"Sit him upright and lift his arms over his head." Steve was by his side, guiding Tony in helping Peter. Tony wasn't sure how long it would take for Peter to calm his breathing, he could only watched as Steve showed him a breathig exercise for him to copy.

The rest of the team helped the civiliance leave the building, somewhere in the crowd he saw Pepper doing the same.

"Bruce?" He called. The man stood a bit to the side, never having needed to turn into the green guy, yet he looked exhausted. "The guy possibly poisened the kid, something that could or could not have removed his powers."

Suddenly there was the sound of something hitting the floor. When everyone looked over they saw Clint standing over the intern, strangely far away from where he had dropped down before. Tony noticed his nose looking a bit crooked and there being a suspicious red spot on the floor.

"What?" Said Clint. "He was going or the gun."

Chapter Text

He should have gotten one of those stamp card that when you buy like thirty ice creams you get one free, just instead of ice creams he would get a free stay at Stark Industries.

He was out for most of what had happened, only remember face planting quite a bit and then Cptain America helping him through an asthma attack. It might not have been his coolest moment, but who could brag about something like that?

"When were you going to tell me?" May walked up and down in the room, Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner having to move out of the way or risking his aunt's mad mood going over to them. After everything she and Mr. Stark had been through he stayed as far away as he physically could without leaving the room.

"I was going to tell you, eventually, maybe." Peter's voice only quieter towards the end.

Waking up and everyone, including his aunt, knowing he was Spider-Man was difficult to explain.

"Eventually? Maybe? Peter Benjamin Parker what where you thinking? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"

"Kinda." He mumbled. May shot him a look. "Too soon?"

"After the sun blows up would be too soon, young man." She turned, her fierce gaze now focused on Mr. Stark, his attempt at hiding in a corner and not moving in hope of her not noticing him had failed. "And you, aren't you supposed to know everything about everyone? How come two of your interns could keep entire secret identities from you? What kind fo safety measurements does your company even have?"

"Mrs. Parker, I apologiez deeply, I never meant for this to happen, I-"

"Don't you 'Mrs. Parker' me, I can't believe I was right about you. First the drones, then he gets kidnapped by your employees, gets poisened, we don't even know if the effect is long lasting or not."

"May, it's not Mr. Stark's fault, I should have been more careful."

She looked back towards Peter and her expression softened. Maybe it was the fact that she had seen him way too often in hospital beds, hurts and unsure what would happen of him. She walked over to stand beside him, reaching out a hand and carding it through his curls.

Peter would have never thought he'd miss his aunt yelling at him.

"Kiddo, there is nothing you could have done different." Mr. Stark said. "What's important is that you are save now."

"He's right, whatever will happen, we will get through it together." May pulled him into a tight hug, only letting go when he made a joke about choking, getting another stern glare from her.

"So, I'm not gonna be Spider-Man anmore?" He asked into the room. Dr. Banner stepped forward, a clipboard in his hands.

"That is not entirely the case. The solution was very unstable, it worked more as a poison than a mutation remover. I had another look at your blood and, seeing as what we had found before, your powers are in your DNA. The solution was by far not able to fully remove it. However, after testing yourt abilities it is obvious that most have been extremely weakened and some have disappeared, meanwhile old medical problems, such as your asthma have returned. We have to check you regularly to make sure if this condition is permanent or just temporary." He explained.

"What are my chances?" Peter asked.

"Difficult to say, I would have to do more tests on you."

Not even a year. He was a hero for not even a year and had already lost it all again. He was back to being puny Peter Parker, ordinary nerd.

"For now," Dr. Banner continued. "I would like you to take it easy, we did what we could but there are still residue of the solution in your body. Make sure to not overexert yourself, eat sleep and drink enough, the only thing you can do right now to help yourself is wait."

"At least you won't be coming here for a while." Said May.

"What?" Peter's head short around so fast he heard it crack.

"If you won't be on the streets at night, no one can hurt you, so, no need for you to be in this or any other hospital bed again."

"What about the internship?" Petert asked, the heart monitor he had named Beeper, anouncing his shock to the entire room.

"The internship? You still want to work here?"

"Of course I do, Stark Industries is still the leading tech company in America."

"Even after everthing, Peter?"

"Just like yo said, no Spider-Man, no injuries, ergo, no danger if I do work for Mr. Stark, if he still wants me as an intern, that is."He risked a tentative look towards the man. Mr. Stark had a smile on his face, not the fancy one he always had in interviews, it was a similar to when Peter had asked Ben if he could teach him something.

"Kiddo, there is no other intern I would want at my side, but I think you should wait for your aunt's answer first."He said, motioning towards said woman.

Peter looked at her with the best puppy eyes he could muster.

"You won't deny a sick kid his dream, would you?" He smiled.

"Don't overdo it." She roled her eyes. "But alright, I guess, I don't have any more arguments against this."

"Perfect, I got a long list of things I wanna show you, making this big brain of yours even bigger."