I Promise

The rest of that day was quiet and comfortable, Peter spent most of it snuggled under his blanket and reading while Tony worked. Tony also texted the team’s group chat to let them know Peter would join for training the next day, but that he still had to take it easy for the next two sessions. They all replied with some text of affirmation and understanding.

In the evening they once again ate at the dining table. This time Tony chose the food since Peter had made enough decisions and had enough new experiences that day. Tony made his famous carbonara and Peter watched him make it with a look of fascination. They snuggled up on the couch and watched Brave, and Tony might or might not have contemplated calling Clint Merida from now on. Peter was asleep when the credits rolled so Tony gently picked him up bridal style and took him to his room. He tucked him in and left the door open a crack. He made sure to have FRIDAY inform him if Peter woke up or had a nightmare. This would be the first time he was sleeping alone after all.

_____

Peter ended up sleeping through the night, and was only a little sad to see that he was alone when he woke up. He knew he had to get used to it, he was a teenager not a child after all. He yawned as he sat up. The sun was shining through his window and he looked over at the clock on his nightstand, 8:00am. He got up and used the bathroom before picking out his clothes for the day. His training clothes! He picked some sweatpants since jeans would be too stiff to fight in and picked one of his many science pun T-Shirts. This one had two atoms on it, one was saying, “I lost an electron.” and the other one was saying, “Are you positive?”

He smiled at it and then tugged it on over his head. After he was dressed he made his way out of his room and towards the kitchen. He could smell eggs and sausage before he even opened his door. Tony was at the stove just finishing the scrambled eggs when he turned to see Peter in all his bed head glory. “Morning kiddo!” He said with a big smile on his face. He put the whole pan of eggs on a plate with four sausages and pushed it closer to Peter who had sat on one of the centre island stools. “Eat up, big day today!”

“What about you?” Peter said as he stared at the full plate in front of him, “What are you going to eat?”

“I already had some, plus my favourite meal is right here.” Tony gestured to the cup of coffee in his hand. Peter rolled his eyes at Tony, but started on his food.

“What time does training start?” Peter said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“Chew, swallow, then speak.” Tony said with a smile, Peter blush and swallowed his bite. “9:00am” Tony answered. Peter nodded as he cut a piece of sausage before bringing it to his mouth. Peter finished his meal around 8:30am and Tony was on his second cup of coffee. “I thought we could go down early so I can give you a tour before everyone arrives.” Peter took his plate to the sink and downed the rest of his apple juice.

“Sure!” He said, turning back to Mr. Stark.

Tony threw his arm over Peter’s shoulder, coffee mug in his other hand, and led them both over to the elevator, which opened immediately thanks to FRIDAY. They walked in, let the doors close behind them, and turned to the front. It was a quick trip down, only a few floors. Tony led them both out and down the hallway. A few doors down they turned left into the gigantic training room. Peter looked around in awe. There were many different stations along the walls, a boxing ring near the right back corner, and blue sparring mats lined the middle of the floor. The ceiling must have been up two stories high, probably for those who could fly, or in his case swing. That is if he had his webs. He realised he would need them if he wanted to train properly.

He turned to Mr. Stark, “Is there any way I can make my webs?”

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed, “Your webs?”

“Yeah, after the first year there they let me work in a lab so I could make myself webs to swing around with. I made web shooters and a chemical compound that resembles spider webs.” he explained.

“Wait,” Tony said, taking his arm away from Peter and stepping back, “you made artificial Spider silk?”

“Yeah.” Peter said, confused.

“That can hold your weight without snapping?” Tony couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“Yeah.” Peter said again not understanding what was so hard to understand.

“Peter people have been trying to do that for ages, how did you figure out the right formula?” Tony was shocked to say the least.

“Trial and error I guess.” Peter replied with a shrug.

“Wow,” Tony still couldn’t believe how smart his kid, whoops, the kid was. “After training we can go to my lab and you can make whatever you want. Sound good?”

“Yes!” Peter beamed.

Tony smiled fondly at him and then put his arm back around Peter’s shoulders and led him around the room. He took him to each station to explain how they worked and in no time the team started to show up. Steve was of course the first to arrive and he greeted both Peter and Tony. The rest slowly came in and greeted them as well, Clint was the last to join. Surprise surprise. At 9:00am everyone was present, Nat, Bruce, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Clint.

“Alright,” Steve spoke up in his Captain voice, “who’s sparring first?”

“How about you and I,” Bucky said to Steve, “we can show the kid how it’s done.”

“Sure, if you want to have your butt kicked.” Steve smirked at his boyfriend.

Bucky got up and stepped into the centre of the room where Steve was standing, “Bring it on Punk.” He said with a matching smirk.

Peter sat on a bench next to Tony as they both focused their attention on the two supersoldiers. They both took a fighting stance, legs shoulder length apart and hand raised ready to defend. Steve was the first to make a move throwing a punch that Bucky easily ducked under. Bucky then also threw a punch with his metal arm towards Steve's face, as expected Steve dodged the attack and Bucky used his flesh arm to punch Steve's stomach while he was distracted. Steve barely reacted and didn’t even stumble back. “Is that all you’ve got, Punk?”

“Jerk.” Bucky said simply as he tried to swipe Steve's legs from under him. Steve jumped up in time and after he landed he sent a kick to Bucky’s chest. Just like Steve, Bucky barely seemed to register the attack. Steve then swung his fist again, but this time instead of ducking, Bucky caught it and used it to flip Steve over him and onto his back. Steve did get the wind knocked out of him that time, but used his place in the floor to successfully swipes Bucky's legs out from under him, so he too came crashing down. Bucky rolled over the second he hit the floor and pinned Steve down. Steve used his legs to kick Bucky off him and both were back up in an instance, again in a fighting stance. They were both pretty evenly matched.

“Alright the kid gets it, you two don’t go down easy.” Tony cut in.

Both soldiers looked over to him with an annoyed expression. But then softened their faces when they looked over to Peter who was staring at them in awe. “You want to give it a try son?” Steve asked in a gentle voice.

Peter did but wasn’t sure he would be any good. “Sure,” he said a bit shyly.

“Fine,” Tony said, “but take it easy. Helen said not to push it the first couple sessions.” Peter gave him a nod and stepped to the middle of the floor just as Steve stepped away. He knew Peter would be more comfortable fighting Bucky then himself.

Bucky didn’t tell Peter how to stand, because he is sure he already knew from Hydra training. Peter got into a defensive stance. “Ready?” Bucky questioned.

Peter took a deep breath, “Ready.”

Bucky waited for Peter to make the first move, it was hesitant, but Peter threw a punch. Bucky easily side stepped it. He the threws a punch, and to his surprise Peter did not side step or duck, he flipped out of the way. His spider instincts taking over. Bucky recovered from his shock and sent a kick Peter’s way, although he held back his strength to make sure not to hurt him. It didn't matter because one again the kid flipped out of the way. He then flipped back feet in front of him, kicking Bucky in the chest. Bucky stumbled a bit not expecting Peter to be as strong as he is. “Sorry!” Peter basically shouted.

Bucky smiled as he recovered quickly making his way back to the middle, “You’ve got nothing to apologise for,” he then swiped Peter's legs from under him, “except maybe for getting distracted.” Peter recovered quickly, rolling away and hopping back up. Peter thought the fight was over so he turned to Tony and beamed, he felt so free. Bucky wanted to test something while Peter’s back was turned. He took a running start and he was going to tackle Peter, not harshly as he didn’t want to hurt him. But right before he grabbed him Peter turned sharply and swung his fist. It hit Bucky in the jaw and he once again stumbled back, more from surprise than hurt.

Peter’s eyes opened wide as he realised what he did, “Oh god, I’m sorry.” Everyone else in the room looked surprised and impressed.

Bucky just laughed, “Nice shot kid. How did you know I was coming?”

Bucky was expecting him to say something about his enhanced hearing, but instead Peter explained by saying, “I have a sense.” Bucky looked confused, “I can sense danger before it happens.” Peter explained.

“Wow, that’s useful.” Bucky said.

“Wait, does this mean I can’t play pranks on you because you’ll know they're coming!” Clint asked from the side lines.

Peter smiled as he turned to him, “Probably, but that doesn’t mean I can’t prank you.”

Clint looked shocked, but then pouted, “That's so unfair!” He said like a petulant child. Nat smirked from beside Clint. She was starting to like this kid.

Tony was smiling fondly at Peter when suddenly there was a huge strike of lighting outside the window even though it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. “Oh shit.” Tony muttered.

“What?” Peter turned to him, his eyes showed a hint of fear.

“Remember when I said Thor was off-world?” Peter nodded, “Well, looks like someone decided to pay us a visit.” He was worried about Thor being too much for Peter to handle.

Not a minute later there were loud footsteps coming down the hall, you didn’t need super hearing to hear them. Thor came into the training room all smiles. “Midgaurdians! How are you?” Tony rolled his eyes at the greeting.

Everyone gave some sort of greeting except Peter who was just staring at the God. Thor noticed walking over to him. Peter stood frozen, ‘What are you supposed to do in the presence of a God? Am I supposed to bow? No one else is.’ he thought. He went simple by just introducing himself, “Hi, I’m Peter.” he said a bit shyly as he waved.

Thors smile grew, “Oh yes I have heard about you! The Man of Spiders!” He clasped a giant hand on Peter’s shoulder. Peter blushed at the title and wiced a little at Thor’s booming voice.

“Alright point break stop scaring the kid.” Tony cut in.

Thor frowned and stepped back, “I did not mean to frighten you young spider.”

“You didn’t!” Peter rushed to say, and then his eyes landed on the hammer in God's hand. ”Cool hammer by the way!” Peter hesitated for a moment but then asked, “Can I see it?” Everyone smirked, because they had all tried to lift it and all failed.

Thor had a knowing look in his eyes that no one else knew, “Sure, would you like to hold it?”

Tony scoffed, “Come on, don’t give the kid false hope.”

“What do you mean?” Peter said, turning to Tony who was now beside him.

“Only the most worthy can lift Mjolnir,” Tony said in a dramatic voice as he gestured to the hammer. “All of us have tried and failed, kid.”

“Oh,” Peter said, looking sad. If Tony, the best person Peter has ever met, couldn't lift it, there was no chance for him. All of the mightiest heroes, excluding Thor of course, have tried and failed. Peter had no chance.

“Let the mighty spider try!” Thor boomed.

Tony looked at him confused, but then just shrugged. “We all tried, if you want to, go for it Pete.”

Peter looked up, ‘What’s the point?’ he thought. Tony just gently nudged him. He should try like everyone else.

Peter walked up to the grinning God who put Mjolnir on the ground and stepped away. “Best of luck Man of Spiders.” Tony likes the sound of that ‘Man of Spiders’ ‘Man Spider’ ‘Spider Man?’

Peter looked toward Tony, who came out of his thoughts and gave him a smile. He knew there was no way Peter could lift it, but he didn’t want to be the one to crush his hop, so he encouraged him. Everyone else stared at the boy in front of the hammer, ready for him to be dubbed unworth like they all had.

Peter grasped the handle, and took a breath. He used all his strength and yanked up. It flew over his head as it felt like it weighed nothing and made him lose his balance and fall backwards. Everyone’s mouth hung open, even Nat's blank expression turned to one of shock.

“He is worthy!!” Thor shouted, as Peter was still on the floor.

As Peter pushed himself back up he heard mutters of “Holy shit!” “Did that just happen?” “How the fuck!” He was pretty sure the last one was Clint’s reaction.

When Peter was standing again he grasped the hammer once more and lifted it easily and handed it back to Thor, blushing, “Thank you Mr. Thor.” He wasn't quite sure what just happened himself.

Clint walked over, “That has to be a fake, give it here.” Thor held out the hammer with a smirk and Clint took the handle. As soon as Thor let go Clint went down to the ground along with the hammer. He tried to yank it up, but it stayed rooted in its position on the mat. “Fuck!” Clint shouted frustratingly.

“Language!” Steve shouted from the sidelines.

Everyone rolled their eyes. And Tony came up to Peter with a hand on his shoulder. “Nice job kid. This just proves my theory that you are the best of us.” Peter beamed and blushed at the same time. “I think that’s enough excitement for today dont you?” Peter nodded, more than happy with how his first training day turned out.

Tony was shocked at first when Peter lifted the hammer, but he had already decided Peter was better than him. Better than basically anyone Tony has ever met. If there was anyone worthy enough, it had to be Peter.

Tony took his hand off Peter’s shoulder and put his arm around both them leading him out. “Thanks everyone, today was fun!” Peter exclaimed as he turned his head before heading out the door. Everyone left in the training room still had stunned expressions except for Nat and Thor. Nat and a small smirk on her face and Thor had a huge grin on his.

_____

Tony led them one floor up and into his lab. “Use whatever you need.” Tony said as Peter looked around the room. He felt like a kid in a candy store. There were machine parts everywhere, tools on the tables and along the walls, and a case of chemicals to the side of the room. He gleefully went around grabbing everything he needed. Tony watched adoringly at the boy’s overjoyed reaction.

Peter placed everything he had grabbed on one of the empty tables. He was about to sit down when he saw DUM-E come into view. “Hey DUM-E!” Peter exclaimed as he went over to the robot. DUM-E moved its claw up and down in an excited manner. Peter laughed and as he petted the claw, not knowing how else to show affection to the machine. DUM-E seemed pleased with the gesture nonetheless. Peter then turned and went back to the table, DUM-E following behind like a dog. Peter sat down and immediately started mixing the formula.

An hour later Peter had finished all his calculations, measured the right amount of each chemical, and mixed them to make the web substance. He put them in mini vials that would later go into his web shooters. He turned to the metal and electrical parts he chose and started making red web shooters.

Peter was so focused that he didn’t notice what Tony was working on, which was lucky since it was a surprise. After seeing Peter fight he couldn’t help but picture him as part of the team one day. And if that happened Peter would need a suit. He started brainstorming ideas. It had to be flexible for Peter to fight and eventually swing in, but it had to be strong too. He was debating whether to make it with nanotechnology like he just finished making his own suit.

He was broken from his thoughts as Peter spoke, “Do you have a soldering iron?”

Peter hadn’t looked up luckily since he was so focused. “Yeah, one sec.” Tony got up grabbing one and bringing it over to Peter. “Just be careful not to burn yourself.”

Peter rolled his eyes, one of his new favourite things to do it seemed, “I won’t dad,” he said sarcastically. Too focused on getting back to work to notice that that was the second time he called Tony that, even if both were in a somewhat joking manner. Tony did notice however and smiled softly as his heart leapt. After a moment he went back to his station.

He was thinking of more and more things to add to the suit. An AI, a tracker of course, heating and air conditioning, and a panic button just in case. Now he just had to make the design. He thought of what colours to make the suit, and suddenly the red and blue throw blanket came to mind. He decided to make it the exact red and blue shades that were on the blanket. He hoped it would be comforting. Almost like he would have the blanket, which he felt comforted by, with him when he fought.

A few more hours passed until Peter exclaimed, “Finished!” Excitedly. Tony quickly made the projections he was working on vanish so as to keep the suit a surprise and then turned his attention to Peter.

Peter was putting in what looked like red cuffs, but had a small button looking part on the palm of his hand. “You want to test it out here or in the training room.”

Peter didn’t want to mess anything up in the lab in case the webs snapped and he fell so he decided the training room would be best. Especially because there were soft mats on the floor in case he did fell. “Training room.” He answered confidently.

Tony gave a nod with a smile and they made their way to the elevator and took it down one floor. They both walked down the hall and into the training room, everyone was gone except Steve and Bucky who were sparing. They both heard Peter and Tony entering so they stopped and turned towards the door.

“Don’t you two every take a break?” Tony said as he locked eyes with them.

They both shrugged, “What are you two doing back here?”

“Pete made his web and web shooter and wanted to test them out.”

They both nodded and then went off to the side to grab their water bottles.

“Alright, just do me a favour,” Tony said as Peter was about to walk away, but turned back to listen to him, “Stay above the mats until you're sure the webs won't break.” Peter gave him a nod and a grateful smile as he went to stand on the mats.

Tony, a bit nervously, went to sit on the bench next to Bucky and Steve. All three men were watching Peter closely with apprehension and curiosity.

Peter backed up and then took a running start before shooting out a web which caught on a beam on the high ceiling. As soon as it attached he jumped into the air and shot out another that also attached to the ceiling. In no time he was swinging around in circles shooting one web after the other. His face had a permanent smile on it, he had never felt so free and safe. He was swinging on his own terms and had support from the three men he trusted below.

After twenty minutes of swinging he lowered himself back to the floor. All three men stood up after watching in fascination. Peter was still smiling as they approached. “Wow,” Bucky said, not knowing what else to say. Peter just laughed.

“Nice swinging kid, but quick question.” Peter turned to Tony, “Will those webs be on my ceiling forever?” They all looked up to see a boat load of web just dangling from the beams on the ceiling.

“Nah, they’ll dissolve in an hour.” Tony smirked, the kid thought of everything.

“In that case, lunch?” Tony asked and Peter nodded, he was super hungry after all that swinging. “You two want to join us for pizza?”

Bucky and Steve looked at each other for confirmation and then both said, “Sure.”

All four of them walked out of the training room and headed up to the penthouse.

_____

From the building across the street:

“Yeah, I have eyes on The Spider.” A man in all black said into his phone.

“Wait till he’s at full strength then bring it back to us.” The person on the other end of the phone said.

“I’ll wait a little longer than I’ll need a team to help extract it.” The man replied.

“Whatever you need, just get The Spider back.”

“Copy that.” The man in all black said as he hung up the phone and lowered his arm making the red Hydra symbol on his left bicep visible.