Tony
Tony peels his eyes open, wincing at the light shining through his window. A wave of nausea hits and he stumbles out of bed as fast as he can, ignoring the pounding behind his skull to sprint to the bathroom. He barely makes it to his knees in front of the toilet before all the contents of his stomach are ejected, not that much is left in there after his last few days.
He’s only pathetically laying against his toilet for a few minutes before Rhodey strolls in, well used to this routine by now. They’ve been playing this game for 30 years now. His friend grabs his shoulder and pulls him off of the porcelain bowl before giving him a bottle of water and some pills.
“Here.” He says. “Try to keep these down. They’ll help.”
Tony just nods and throws back the pills and half the bottle of water. When he’s finished, Rhodey pulls him up by an arm and starts to drag him back to bed.
“What time is it?” Tony asks once he’s sitting back down on his incredibly comfortable mattress.
“7:30.” Rhodey responds. “You’ve got a couple hours before we have to leave. Are you still sure you’ll make it?”
Tony looks up at Rhodey like the man just said he was joining the circus.
“Of course I’m making it, Rhodes.” Tony says incredulously. “I told the kid I’d be there, so I will.”
Rhodey raises his hands in defeat. “Fine, but I’m not cleaning up your puke from the floor of the compound.”
Tony tries to glare angrily at his friend, but all he accomplishes is making his headache worse. It must show on his face, because Rhodey gently pushes him back down into the cushions.
“Go back to sleep for a bit, Tones. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to get ready, and we’ll get you some more pain and nausea meds before we go.”
Tony only has the energy to nod before he slips back into the blissful darkness.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
His next time waking up is a little over an hour later, and it’s much more pleasant. The medicine has kicked in, so the pounding headache and waves of nausea are still present, but much less than they were. Rhodey was crouched in front of him, hand on his shoulder to wake him.
“If we’re gonna go, you need to get in the shower soon.” His friend tells him. Tony’s sure he must smell horrible. He’s sticky with sweat and he can still taste the vomit in his mouth.
He assures Rhodey that he can handle this part, and takes a long shower in his wonderfully luxurious bathroom. He brushes his teeth and cleans up his facial hair, and by the time they need to leave, he actually feels a little bit like himself again.
He has Happy drive, with Tony riding shotgun and Rhodey in the back. Normally, Tony makes Rhodey ride in the front so he has more space with his leg braces, but Tony really can’t take any chances with motion sickness with the kid in the car. He’s hoping Rhodey can just keep him entertained until they get there so Peter doesn’t notice that anything is wrong. By their next lab day on Wednesday, he’ll be right as rain, but right now he’s really regretting offering the kid the compound visit this weekend. Peter had just seemed so sad and the offer just slipped out of Tony’s mouth. He clearly didn’t think this through very well.
They pull in front of Peter’s apartment and the boy is already waiting outside, backpack still hanging on by a thread. Tony should really buy him a new backpack. And a whole new wardrobe while he’s at it. Is that too much? It’s probably too much.
Peter jogs over excitedly and pulls the door open.
“Hi, Mr. Stark!” He calls out as he slides into his seat. “Oh, hi Mr. Rhodey!” He says as well when he notices Rhodes in the back with him.
“Hey, kiddo.” Tony says back, trying to sound like his normal self and probably failing.
Rhodey saves him by grabbing Peter’s attention back.
“Hey, Pete! Please, drop the mister and just call me Rhodey.”
Peter joking rolls his eyes. “Okay, fine, Rhodey. Are you coming with us to the compound today?”
“You bet, Pete! I thought I would come see Spider-Man in action.” He says enthusiastically, nudging Peter’s foot with his own across the footwell. “How’s that shoulder healing up?”
“Oh, this?” Peter asks, pulling the collar of his shirt to the side, exposing his collarbone. There’s the smallest hint of white scar tissue where the bullet wound was just a few days ago. Rhodey lets out a low whistle.
“Damn, Pete. Tony mentioned you had accelerated healing, but that is fast.”
Peter just shrugs and fixes his shirt. “How fast it heals depends on some things. I’ve been really careful the last couple of days to eat and sleep a lot so I would be healed by this weekend.”
Rhodey smiles softly at the boy. “So, you excited to spend some time with the Avengers?” He asks, almost teasingly.
Peter just chuckles. “Well, duh. Steve and Natasha are teaching me to fight, which is so cool. I couldn’t do any real sparring last time because I was injured, so this time I’m coming ready.”
Rhodey hums. “You think you’ll be able to take on Steve?”
Peter shrugs. “Maybe. Mr. Stark tested my strength and says I’m just as strong as he is. Right Mr. Stark?”
Tony was trying to keep track of the conversation, but mostly he had been staring out the window and hoping that he makes it through the day.
“What?” He asks, before remembering what they were saying. “Oh, yeah. Physically you’re actually stronger than Steve is. He definitely has more experience than you though, so he’ll put up a tough fight.”
Peter nods along, paying close attention to Tony’s advice.
“I don’t think you’ll be doing any sparring with him today anyway, Pete. They‘ve got a full day planned I think.”
“Aw.” Peter said with a pout, clearly disappointed. “Well what are we doing today then?”
Tony makes quick eye contact with Rhodey in the rearview mirror, and his friend sees the signal and takes over the conversation again. Even this much concentration is a lot for Tony right now. He slides his sunglasses on, closes his eyes, and instantly feels much better. He doesn’t realize when the gentle movement of the car slowly lulls him back to sleep.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“You’re kidding me!”
“Oh Peter, I wish I was. Anyway, by the time I got back to our dorm room, the whole building had been evacuated and Tony was this close to getting into an actual fist fight with one of the firefighters. You think he’s small now, but he was even smaller at 15 and these guys were huge, okay? So I get up there -“
“Whatever he’s telling you, kid, he’s lying. I’ll sue you for slander, Jim.” Tony says, eyes still closed.
“Mr. Stark!” Peter exclaims. “You’re finally awake! We’re almost at the compound.”
Almost at the compound?
Tony’s eyes shoot open and sure enough, they’re just a few minutes away. He slept for over an hour.
Tony turns around to look at the two in the back directly. “Have you been filling Peter’s young and impressionable mind with lies this entire trip, Rhodes?” He asks accusingly.
“Me? Never!” Rhodey responds, looking offended that Tony would dare suggest that.
Peter was just trying to hold in his laughter. “It wasn’t just Rhodey, Mr. Stark. Happy has some good stories about you too.”
“Hey!” Happy calls from the drivers seat. “I told you those in confidence that you wouldn’t rat me out, you little snitch!” Happy said through his smile. “You’re going to have to find a new ride home, Parker.”
“I’ll swing. Besides it’s not fair that Rhodey takes all the blame. He just got unlucky enough to be talking when Mr. Stark woke up. Now, what happened with the fire fighter?” He asks excitedly, turning back to Rhodey.
“You’re going to swing through open fields?” Happy interrupts again before Rhodey can finish. “This isn’t the city, Pete. The skyscrapers are far behind us.”
Peter sticks his tongue out at Happy through the mirror. It’s so childlike and jovial that Tony can’t help but laugh too.
Before Rhodey can finish the firefighter story, which, by the way, thank god he wasn’t able to finish because Tony does not need anyone else knowing the end, they arrive at the compound.
“Oh look we’re here!” Tony announces quickly, before Rhodey can say anything else. “Better get out of the car quick otherwise the team will eat without us. Come on!”
He opens his door and stumbles out, forgetting for a moment that he’s right in the middle of a horrible detox from alcohol. He almost falls over his own feet before Rhodey gets to his side and steadies him with a hand to his bicep.
He looks at the man gratefully as Happy stalls Peter on the other side of the car, allowing him to take a second to recover.
It’s hits him suddenly how quickly he went from feeling like he had absolutely no one, to being surrounded by these people willing to help him. He really is a lucky man.
Once he’s stable, he turns around to wave Peter forward.
“Come on, kid. You hungry? Lunch is the first thing on our list.”
Peter gives him a strange look, but he shakes it off and follows behind Tony eagerly. Happy comes in as well this time. Tony didn’t ask him to, but he’s grateful for it all the same.
When they get inside, Peter rushes ahead into the Avengers common room. Rhodey gives him a questioning look before they enter and Tony nods, confirming he’s good to go inside. He takes his sunglasses off, not wanting to look suspicious, but he keeps them with him just in case. The lights are really bothering his head.
When he walks in, the group is already crowding around Peter, but Rhodey brings in some attention, too.
Tony lets Rhodey say hello to everyone he hasn’t seen in a while, and he goes to sit down on the couch. Peter sees him and starts walking his way, but he’s interrupted by Clint.
“You must be Peter.” The man says, stepping in between them and holding out his hand. “I’m Clint. We met on the battlefield a few weeks ago, but there wasn’t exactly time to chat. You did good work out there.”
“Thank you, Mr. Barton, sir. It’s really an honor to meet you, too.” Peter replies, shaking his hand.
Clint steps aside to include Tony in the conversation as well. The man gestures towards him. “Wow, Mr. Barton, sir?” Clint says feigning shock. “I’m surprised he’s kept those good manners after a few months with you, Stark.” Clint says teasingly.
Tony tenses for a moment before looking at Clint’s smiling face and realizes he’s joking. He chuckles awkwardly and returns the man’s smile as best he can. He must be doing a pretty okay job at faking it today, because Clint turns back to Peter without another word.
“I actually have a couple kids just a few years younger than you.” He hears the man explain to Peter who’s listening with awe. He tunes out their conversation as soon as he can so it fades into the buzz of the background.
He’s trying so hard to try to force things back to the way they were. Clint’s teasing should not warrant this kind of reaction from him, but every time he starts to let go for a little while, he can see the battlefield, with all of his friends on the opposing side. They all sided against him. He’s forgiven most of them, but his stupid brain just can’t forget it. His therapist would probably tell him it’s PTSD or some other diagnosis he’s never going to deal with.
“Stark!” He hears a booming voice call right before a hand clasps down on his shoulder. Thor smiles down at him before sitting down in the chair across from him. “Are you and the small spider going to be joining us for lunch?”
Tony glances up and sees Peter looking at him again from across the room, where he’s talking to Natasha. The boy looks ready to dash towards Tony at a moments notice if he needs to. Tony wonders why the kid seems so nervous today. He seemed so excited to come be with the team again the other day.
Tony gives him a reassuring smile before turning back to Thor. “Of course we are. What are we having?”
“I’m making lasagne.” Sam announces, sitting down next to Thor. “It’s my mothers recipe, and you all better be blown away.”
Tony scoffs. “You’re making Italian? Nothing will ever be better than my own Nonna’s lasagne recipe. I’ll make it for you all another day and we can compare.”
“You cook?” Natasha asks, also coming to sit down. Everyone starts congregating again into one big group. Peter is at his side again in an instant, squishing next to him on the small couch. Tony ruffles his hair thoughtlessly as he sits down.
Tony looks around at everyone’s surprised faces. “Why does everyone look so shocked? I used to cook for you guys all the time when we lived at the tower.”
“You actually cooked that stuff?” Clint asks seriously. “We all thought you just ordered take out and we’re joking around that you made it.”
Tony stares at all the wide eyes around the room, unimpressed. “This is ridiculous.” He says, only halfway joking. “You thought I was lying that whole time?” He looks back and forth, waiting for someone to speak up.
Clint is the first one to start laughing. “We thought you were just really committed to the joke!” He gets out through the laughter. Soon after he loses it, everyone else around the room breaks out into laughter too, including Tony.
“I can’t believe you were all convinced for literal years that I wasn’t cooking the food on my nights! That’s it, I’m never cooking for you ungrateful fools again.” He declared, still only mostly joking. He’s a little offended by it, but it is pretty funny. And he even has to admit that he was a very different person before their fight.
They continue chatting amicably until Sam finishes his lasagne, or rather 3 lasagnes plus loaves of garlic bread since they do have two enhanced metabolisms with them today.
“Come on, kiddo.” Tony says, wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulders and guiding him to a seat at the kitchen table. “And remember, eat until you’re full. No one here is judging you for how much you need to eat to maintain that enhanced metabolism of yours. They’re used to it.”
Peter nods his agreement before loading up his plate with 3 large portions of lasagne. He rolls his eyes at the look that Tony is giving him.
“I’ll go back for more later, Mr. Stark. The plate can only hold so much at a time.”
Tony huffs. “Fine, but I better see you eat at least double that before we start training.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Peter mutters to himself as he starts chowing down on lasagne, earning him some snickers from others at the table.
Tony shoves Peter’s side playfully as he passes to go get his own meal. He just takes a small piece, hoping that he’ll even be able to get down that much, but when he goes to sit next to Peter at the table, another wave of nausea hits.
He clasps Peter’s shoulder and leans in.
“I gotta run for a sec, bud. I’ll be right back.” He mutters quickly before practically dashing out of the room. The nausea fades slightly when he gets out of the room with the food, but he doesn’t stop walking until he’s in his own private bathroom. He dry heaves a bit, but nothing comes out. He hasn’t had anything but water for a few days now.
After a few minutes, he hears the telltale sound of Rhodey’s footsteps as he walks Tony’s direction. In a motion that is giving Tony serious deja vu from this morning, he drops a bottle of water and some pills into Tony’s open hands.
This time he’s at least coherent enough to ask questions.
“What are you giving me?” He asks after the pills are already in his mouth.
“Ativan, zofran, Tylenol.” His friend lists off. “Same as this morning, and that lasted you this long.”
Tony nods, grateful. Rhodey helps him lay down on top of his bed.
“Give the kid some excuse for me, will you Rhodey? Tell him I have a cold or some important work thing came up and I’ll be back soon. I don’t really care exactly.” He says, eyes already shut.
“Sure, Tones. I’ll have Friday wake you up in a bit.”
Tony feels his friend’s hand pat his back a few times, then the door opens and clicks shut again.
He doesn’t sleep this time. He doesn’t really want to. He just lays with his eyes closed for a half hour until the medicine kicks in. When he finally feels a little better, he gets up to brush his teeth again and splash some cold water on his face.
By the time he leaves his room, most of the team has moved on. He walks in on just Peter and Steve behind doing the dishes. Steve is washing and handing them to Peter to dry and put away. Everything seems perfectly fine. They’re just chatting amicably, but seeing Peter alone with Steve like this causes a shot of fear to run down his spine, and he feels like his heart is beating out of his chest.
He tries to keep himself calm to walk over to them, but Peter has already noticed him.
“Hey, Mr. Stark!” The kid calls, looking over his shoulder at the him. “How did your emergency meeting go?” He asks.
Tony shrugs. “Fine, kid, thanks. The company has a, uh, big product deadline soon and they needed some input.”
Peter nods, putting away the plate in his hands before turning around fully and letting Steve continue with the washing. “Everyone else went down to the gym already, so I stayed and helped with dishes while I was waiting for you. I put your piece of lasagne in the fridge if you want it.”
Tony can’t help but smile a little bit at the kid. How is this the same rude kid he met on that rooftop a few months ago?
“Thanks, Pete, but I’m not really that hungry right now. And you didn’t have to wait for me, bud. You should be down there with the others.”
“I tried to convince him, but he insisted on waiting until you were here.” Steve pipes up from in front of the sink, sounding a little irritated.
Tony decides to just ignore him. He doesn’t have the mental energy to spend on Rogers today.
“Well I’m ready now, so let’s go find the others.” He tells Peter, gesturing out the door.
They find everyone outside, doing laps around the track as a warm up.
“Go on out there, Pete, and try not to make everyone else look bad, okay?” He tells Peter, smirking.
Peter looks at him, concern written on his face. He’s had that same concerned look since they got to the compound. He’s not sure what’s gotten into the kid today.
“Aren’t you coming?” Peter asks.
“Nah, Iron Man doesn’t run.” Tony replies, waving Peter off.
“I don’t think that’s how this works, Mr. Stark.” Peter replies with a huff.
“Yeah, well, I’m not really feeling up to training today. I haven’t been feeling the best today, so I’m going to take a pass and just watch.” Tony says casually.
There’s that concerned look again. Tony doesn’t think he likes it.
“Go on, shoo.” He tells Peter, waving him off. “Run along, Spiderling. I’ll be right over here.”
Peter glances back at him one last time before taking off after the others way faster than anyone else is running. Tony smirks to himself. Even though he feels like shit, training today might still be fun.
Steve comes out and joins everyone a few minutes later, as does Rhodey. Rhodey doesn’t train anymore either. His superheroing days have been limited since his accident, and Tony doesn’t think the man regrets that either. He just comes and sits next to Tony on a bench, offering his silent support.
After a couple miles, more for Peter and Steve since they can run so much faster than everyone else, they head inside to the gym. Tony is feeling a lot better again now that the medicine has had time to work. He keeps his sunglasses on again though, just in case his headache comes back.
The gym they’re using today is their biggest one. It’s a few stories tall and lots of open space, plus things to climb on. They use this one to do full team fights. Tony built this room in a way that they can choose to practice fighting each other, or they can have the room produce enemies for them. Today, they decide they want to practice with each other.
Tony, Rhodey, and Bruce can sit in the glass enclosed control room on the side where they can see everything. Tony can release any number of things, like projectiles shooting out from the walls, or weather changes, or he can simulate some of the walls crumbling in. Since it’s Peter’s first time he decides to keep it simple.
He get out a small drone and walks into the room where everyone is waiting.
“Okay, this.” He holds up his toy, “is your goal for today. It’s small, it’s fast, and it will be trying to avoid you. First one to get it wins the round. If you break it, it’s an automatic loss. You can fight each other, but no weapons allowed, including webs spider boy.” He says, directing to Peter who frowns but nods his agreement.
Tony walks backwards towards the door, so he won’t get in the middle of the action.
“And…go!” He throws the drone up in the air and ducks through the doorway, quickly shutting it behind him. When he looks back into the main room, it’s utter chaos already.
Peter is halfway up the wall already, watching for the drone like a hawk. Clint and Sam are currently fighting while climbing up the side of some of the scaffolding, and there are a couple other fights happening on the ground. Tony doesn’t really care what’s going on except for how his mentee is doing, so he just keeps an eye on Peter. The kid really does hold his own. He doesn’t do a whole lot of fighting, but he’s so much faster than everyone else that he doesn’t really need to. He ends up winning after quite a while by catching the drone midair by leaping from the top of a wall down onto it. It miraculously doesn’t break.
Everyone gives their congratulations. Normally the winner picks dinner, but Peter won’t be staying that long unfortunately.
“Nice work, kid.” Tony tells Peter as he hands him the captured drone.
“Thanks Mr. Stark.” Peter replies, breathing heavily from the exertion of the training session. “Natasha told me she wants to do some more hand to hand combat training before I leave. Is that okay?”
“Definitely. More than fine.” Tony replies. “You get hit far too often, kiddo. I’ve seen the damage. The more practice Nat gives you, the better.”
Peter looks away, almost guiltily. Tony is wondering what that look is about when Nat comes to steal his intern away again.
“Come on, Peter.” Nat says as she strolls up, looking much less out of breath than everyone else had. “Let’s get some practice in now that the gym has cleared up. Do you remember what we showed you last time?”
She takes Peter back out into the gym where Tony can watch them. They do some practice punches and blocks, and Nat praises the kid for how much better he’s doing already.
“I’ve been practicing a bunch, like you told me to.” He hears Peter tell her.
“Tony.” A stern voice interrupts his peace.
He turns around to see Steve behind him, looking grim. Great. What could Tony have possibly done this time to upset goodie two shoes Rogers.
“Yeah, Spangles?” Tony replies, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible and keep his nervous tremors under control.
“I need to talk to you. Come with me.” He commands, tilting his head towards the door.
Now? Really?
“Listen, Rogers. I’m really not in the mood today. Why don’t you just, oh I don’t know, email whatever it is to me and I’ll get back with you in 3-5 business days.” He brushes the man off and returns to watching the kid thoroughly beat up a punching bag.
Unfortunately, Steve doesn’t take no for an answer. He gets in between Tony and his view of Peter, looking down with his arms crossed.
“Tony, this is serious. I’m tired of the jokes.” He says, sounding very annoyed.
Tony raises his hands in surrender. “Okay, fine. Let’s go then.” He stands and strolls out the door. If Rogers is going to go around making demands, then Tony is at least going to go on his terms. He leads Steve down the hall to an empty room, meant for team debriefing after training sessions. He picks the seat at the head of the table and sits down, kicking his feet up on top of the table casually to let Steve know that he’s completely unconcerned with whatever is happening.
“Now, what’s so important that you drag me away from my trainee?” He asks, making sure his irritation shows through in his tone.
Roger’s face twitches with anger. “If your trainee is that important to you, then why are you showing up here drunk, or hungover, or whatever state this is?” He accuses, leaning over Tony and pointing his finger into his chest.
All of a sudden the panic that Tony has been suppressing since he arrived is back full force. There’s no alcohol in his system to dull how he’s feeling. He flinches back away from the man despite his best efforts, and he sees Steve’s angry expression fall for half a second before coming back in full force.
Tony gets out of his chair to put some distance between himself and this man his mind and body are seeing as an enemy.
“Okay, one, you’re completely wrong, and two, that is absolutely none of your business.”
He tries to walk out, but Steve puts himself between Tony and the door.
“We’re not done here. What do you mean, I’m wrong? It’s so obvious, Tony, and I’m sure it’s obvious to Peter as well. He clearly looks up to you, though after seeing you with him today I’m really not sure why.”
Okay, now that one of hurt. He was going through this for Peter. Of course Steve doesn’t know that, and Tony isn’t planning on telling him. He obviously thinks the worst of Tony already.
He takes Tony’s silence as permission to continue.
“How could you be so irresponsible around a teenager, especially one like Peter? He needs you to be better than this.”
Tony clenches his jaw. He almost never has trouble thinking of a witty comeback or sticking up for himself, but Rogers is kind of right. He was irresponsible. He was still drinking regularly the first couple months Peter was around, and the kid admitted to knowing it. Maybe that’s why the kid ghosted him for an entire month.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Rogers. I’m not drunk, or hungover-“
“Then why have you been sitting out of training all day? Why have your sunglasses been on inside? Why did you run out in the middle of lunch and have Rhodey give some dumb excuse about an emergency work meeting? Do you think we’re all clueless, Tony?”
“Can you shut up for two seconds, Rogers?!” Tony practically yells. All of this is really making him feel even more ill than he was before. He can feel the tremors in his hands, the pounding is returning behind his eyes, and the nausea is coming back full force. He sits down forcefully and covers his eyes with his hands, rubbing his temples with his thumbs. This is probably proving Steve’s point even more, which is infuriating.
Before Steve can lay into him even more for everything he’s ever done wrong in his life, the door to the conference room slams open. Tony looks up to see Peter standing in the doorway, frown on his face.
“I need to get home soon, Mr. Stark. Is it okay if we go?” He asks, voice tense, like he’s upset about something. Huh. Maybe he could tell that he and Steve were arguing.
He stands up quickly, pushing past Rogers to finally get to the door. “Of course.” He tells the kid. “Can’t have you getting in trouble with the folks because of us.”
He doesn’t say another word to Steve as he swiftly makes his exit with Peter in tow. He pulls out his phone and texts Happy to meet them at the front. He texts Rhodey as well to see if the man is coming, but Rhodey says he’s going to stay another few hours to catch up with the group before returning to the tower.
They’re both silent as they walk out to the garage, and Tony can see Peter giving him concerned glances out of the corner of his eye. Somehow, Tony is sure Peter knows exactly what’s going on.
Once they’re on the road, Peter is clearly waiting to ask him something. Tony can only stand so much nervous fidgeting, especially in his current state.
“Whatever you want to say, just say it, Peter.” He says, trying not to sound harsh.
Sure enough, Peter knows everything. Tony doesn’t know why he’s ever surprised.
“I know you’re not drunk, or hungover. You’re withdrawing. I know what it looks like.”
Tony sighs and hangs his head. So the kid does know. And he was clearly listening in on his conversation with Steve.
“How much did you hear?” Tony asks.
Peter just shrugs, staring out the window. “Of your argument with Steve? All of it. But I’ve known what was going on all day. Emergency work meeting? Really Mr. Stark? You looked like you were about to blow chunks all over the table when you ran out of there.”
Tony had kind of expected Peter to be upset with him as well, but the boy is looking at him now with a teasing smirk, so he assumed they’re okay.
“Hey, Rhodey came up with that excuse. I told him he could tell everyone I was sick or something.” He replies as an excuse.
There’s silence in the car for a moment, but it’s not a bad, tense silence. It’s a comfortable silence.
“So when was your last drink then?” Peter asks all of a sudden.
Tony scoffs. “And why would you need to know that?”
Peter just shrugs. “Maybe I just want to know how worried I should be. You could have like a seizure or something. You probably should’ve stayed at the tower today where you could’ve gotten medical care.”
Tony just waves him off. “Rhodey is my medical care. Don’t worry about that, kiddo. You’re way too young to know this much about all this anyway. How’d that happen?”
“You answer my question and I’ll answer yours.” Peter fires back, determined look on his face.
“Fine, you first.” Tony tells him, nudging his for with his own.
“One of the guys I used to live with in a home a while ago, he used to go through withdrawals all the time. He would run out of money for alcohol pretty regularly, then I would have to watch him to make sure he lived through the whole ordeal because no one else would.”
Tony really wasn’t sure what to say to that. Peter said it so casually, like it didn’t even matter. Like he isn’t a literal child having to deal with things that no one ever should.
He settled on a simple, “damn kid, that’s pretty rough stuff.”
Peter just shrugs again casually, like he doesn’t really care. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever had to do, and he was finally off it when I got kicked out. His was all unintentional though, money issues. I know you don’t have any of those, so I’m guessing you’re doing this on purpose.”
Tony sighs. He supposes there really isn’t any harm in Peter knowing the truth. The kid seems to figure everything out anyway without Tony telling him.
“I am. I stopped after Wednesday night.”
Peter cocks his head like he’s thinking, muttering to himself.
“Wednesday night…..
Oh.”
His face immediately becomes more serious, as opposed to the casual air that they’ve been speaking with.
Tony nods, confirming his suspicions. “Yep, just a few hours before I got the phone call.”
“…oh.” Peter says again, seeming to be trying to look everywhere that isn’t in Tony’s direction.
“Well, just so you know, I think everything Steve said was wrong.”
Tony doesn’t know why he feels so much, if it’s the kid or the lack of alcohol, but he kind of feels like that green guy from that Christmas movie that Pepper likes whose heart grows three sizes or something.
“Thank you, Pete. That’s, uh, I appreciate you saying that.” He says, fighting back a smile.
“So how are you feeling about school on Monday?” Tony asks, eager to get the conversation away from more mushy things.
Peter, however does not appear happy with the new topic of conversation. His face immediately falls, and his only answer is another shrug. What’s with all the shrugging? Is this just a teenager thing? Probably.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony asks. “Aren’t you excited to be back with Ted?”
That gets a small smile from the boy. “His name’s Ned, Mr. Stark. I know you know that. And I am excited for that, but, I don’t know, I’ve just been to a lot of shitty schools I guess.”
“I understand that.” Tony says, nodding. “But I think you’ll find this one is very different from the others you’ve been to. You’ll have to be careful though, because this one won’t tolerate any kind of fighting. They told me when I was getting you enrolled that there won’t be any warnings.”
“I’ll be nice if the other students there aren’t total assholes.” Peter grumbles, crossing his arms and looking away.
“Hey,” Tony says, nudging Peter’s shoulder. “I’m not arguing that whoever you clocked in the jaw a few weeks ago didn’t deserve it. I’m sure he did, especially if it was one of those little assholes that Happy had to scare away. Trust me, I never thought I’d be giving a ‘find another solution besides violence’ spiel to anyone ever. We literally beat up bad guys for a living. But, while you’re in school, you need to figure out another way.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “Another solution like what? Like telling a teacher?” He asks in a mocking tone.
“Sure.” Tony replies. “A teacher, or your foster parents, or me or Happy even and we’ll take care of it for you.”
“That’s so stupid.” Peter grumbles again.
“Yeah, I know.” Tony agrees with him. “It’s really stupid, and I know you can stand up for yourself, but if it keeps you from getting expelled again, then we’ll just have to put up with it, right?”
Peter still looks annoyed, but he nods nonetheless. “I guess so.”
“Good.” Tony says happily, squeezing Peter’s shoulder in approval.
“So, what do you want to work on at the tower this week? We’ve got some options.” Tony continues, changing the subject to something happier. Peter looks at him gratefully as Tony starts listing off projects.
They talk for most of the ride back to Peter’s apartment, and it only occurs to him after Peter jumps out of the car and waves goodbye, that they’re 45 minutes early. Peter didn’t barge into the conference room because he was worried about being late. He was trying to come to Tony’s rescue.
Happy looks at him, confused, as he starts laughing to himself in the backseat. What is he going to do with this kid.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
When he arrives back at the tower, he still has one more thing left on his list for today.
“Friday, is the principal of midtown working today?” He asks from the couch in his penthouse.
“Yes.” She responds. “Principal Morita is on site today preparing for the coming week.”
“Can you call his office number for me, dear?”
He hears the phone ring a couple times, then someone picks up.
“Midtown High, how can I help you?” A female voice answers.
“Hello, I was hoping to speak with Principal Morita.”
“Of course, sir. May I ask who’s speaking?” She responds.
“Tony Stark.”
There’s nothing but silence on the other end.
“Hello?” He asks, thinking maybe the call dropped.
“Umm, just one moment please, Mr. Stark.” The woman says, sounding much more frantic than her calm and collected tone before. Hold music starts playing in the background. He only has to listen to it for ten seconds before someone else picks up the line. A man this time.
“H-hello. This is Principal Morita speaking.” The principal on the other end greets him with a stutter. The secretary clearly warned him that Tony was on the line.
“Hi, Principal Morita, this is Tony Stark speaking. I’m calling in regards to my intern, Peter Parker, who’s going to be starting at Midtown this coming Monday.” Tony tells him, putting on his best professional voice. He’s not trying to intimidate the guy after all. He just wants to talk.
“Y-yes Mr. Stark. The superintendent told us that you had a connection with a student that is starting this semester, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t entirely sure I believed her.”
“Oh yeah?” Tony asks. “Why is that?”
“Well, um, no offense intended whatsoever Mr. Stark, but when we received Peter’s school records, it seemed very far fetched that someone with his, um, background, would have a personal internship with a man of your standing.” The man sounded very nervous to get that into the open, and Tony wants to be mad for the kid, but honestly, he thought the exact same thing at first. He decides to cut the guy a break and continue being nice about it.
“Yes, that’s actually what I was calling to speak with you about, if you have a moment.”
“Of course, sir.” Morita tells him hurriedly.
“Peter is a very bright kid.” Tony begins. “One of the brightest, in my opinion. But, well, you can probably see that he’s had a very tough life. His whole family was taken from him far too early, and since then he’s been moved around very frequently and hasn’t been able to stay in a school for longer than a semester. He hasn’t been intellectually challenged, he’s been bullied by other students for his situation in life, and he’s learned that the only way to ensure he’s not picked on is, well, to fight back essentially.”
“Right. That does make sense.” Morita replies from the other end. “And i do very much sympathize with Peter’s situation, but the violence that Peter has displayed in the past will be entirely unacceptable at this school. I can’t play special treatment on any student if I don’t feel they’re safe to be around the other children.”
“Of course.” Tony says. “And I wouldn’t want you to play favorites on Peter, especially because he’s associated with me. I’ve spoken with him already about handling his problems in a nonviolent way this time around. All I wanted to get out of this conversation is you being aware of Peter’s background, and not judging him prematurely. He really is a very different kid then you see on paper, and I want him to have a fair chance.”
“Of course, Mr. Stark.” Principal Morita sounds relieved. “In that case, I’m very glad you called. I’m looking forward to meeting Peter on Monday.”
“Excellent. Thank you so much for your time, Principal.”
“Oh, and Mr. Stark. Whenever you have time, if you fax over copies of Peter’s internship paperwork to the school, we offer extra credits to students with qualifying internships outside of school.”
“I can definitely do that. Thanks for making me aware of that opportunity.” Tony replies.
“Of course. Have a wonderful rest of your day, Mr. Stark.” Morita says.
“You too, principal Morita.” Tony hangs up the phone, groaning. Thank goodness that went well. Tony hates trying to act professional for these people, but if it helps Peter succeed in life, he’ll do whatever he can.