Nice work, Kid
It started out as one of the best days of Peter's life. His Uncle Ben had not only surprised him with two tickets to the big presentation at the Stark Expo but had also bought him a new Iron Man mask that had light up eyes like Iron Man's and gloves that lit up when he raised them up like Iron Man's repulsors. He'd only had it for a few hours, but he pretty sure that it was his newest most prized possession. Right up there with one of the only framed photos he had with his parents, and his favorite pillow.
Ben had warned him that Tony Stark wasn't actually scheduled to be there- explaining that he was a busy man, and probably was busy doing some other "superhero stuff." That was disappointing, but there were still so much exciting things to see and learn that it didn't last long for the disappoint to fade enough to fully enjoy himself. Hammer tech was presenting a bunch of droids for the military, and the War Machine and he had to admit - even if it wasn't Iron Man, it was still really cool. The science behind those droids and the War Machine was probably just as advanced and as fascinating at the suit Tony Stark made.
But then Iron Man did show up.
And that was exciting for less than five minutes, because then everything turned into utter and total chaos. The droids went rogue, and Iron Man went flying through the roof, quickly followed by about half of the droids which sent shattered glass raining down on them. His uncle grabbed hold of his hand, tugging him into the aisle so they could run towards the escape along with the hundreds of other people that were there.
At some point, Peter's hand slipped from Ben's but Peter didn't stop running and it wasn't until he was outside that he realized that he and his uncle had been separated. His chest hurt from the unexpected exertion, and he spun around, looking in every direction for his uncle. But there were just so many people running and screaming.
Droids were making their way outside now, and Peter caught a glimpse of Iron Man flying around the building with about ten or twenty of the Hammer droids flying behind him. Clearly he was the target.
Maybe...
Maybe he could help cause a distraction for the people around them...
He turned around, with his mask still on, and lifted up his arm in the same way he'd seen Iron Man do when he shot his repulsors at the bad guys. His gloves were toys - he knew that - so when the droid in front of him actually blew up, his eyes went wide in shock.
"Nice work, kid."
Peter spun around, just in time to see his hero flying off again. Immediately, he tore off his mask so he could see better, staring in the direction that Iron Man had just disappeared with his mouth hanging open.
”Oy- Hey, Kid! Watch it!” Suddenly a hand was grabbing his, tugging him out of the way of flying debris. Still stunned from what had just happened - Iron Man just saved his life - and talked to him!! - he blinked up at the guy who just pulled him out of the way. “C’mere, let’s get you somewhere safer, okay?” The guy had a thick Scottish accent, and he looked terrified but reality hadn’t yet sunk back in for Peter.
”Did you see that!? That was so cool!”
———
“My head hurts.” Peter mumbled, pressing the palm of his hand into his left eye. It had been several minutes since he’d told Mr. Stark to just give him a minute, but that he didn’t need to leave, and he did. He’d stayed mostly silent, aside from threatening to make him wear the oxygen cannula again if he didn’t get his breathing under control.
It had been several minutes, and Peter didn’t make any progress in wrapping his head around what Mr. Stark had been trying to tell him.
As if his life hadn’t been turned on its head enough times, there always had to be something else.
If he believed in fate, he might have said it actually made sense. How long had he looked up to Tony Stark- only for the man himself to come knocking at his door, somehow being the only person to figure out his secret identity? How many times did Ned tell him how similar he was to Mr. Stark, only for Peter to laugh it off, because the only similarities he saw himself were there because Peter wanted to be just like him.
Iron Man had been his hero who also happened to be one of the smartest people in the world. Of course Peter idolized him.
But had there always been a little more to it? A deeper reason for the connection the two of them had shared over the couple years they new each other- and the reason the two of them kept crossing paths? Or was he now just looking too much into it?
God, his head was swimming.
Then there was also the million questions he had about never knowing he was adopted (though a couple odd things about his life were suddenly coming to mind as well- such as the weird nightmares and the dreams about his parents that didn’t quite match up.) Did May know?
He was just about to ask about May when the door opened and she walked in- almost on queue, as if she knew his thoughts had turned to her. He would have suspected Tony of asking her to come if he didn’t look so surprised to see her.
Dropping his hand back into his lap, Peter frowned at his aunt and May immediately stilled by the door upon feeling the tension in the room.
“Did you know?” He asked, before he could stop himself. “That I was adopted?”
Her eyes flicked towards Tony, her hand still on the door before finally nodding. “Your parents didn’t want you to know, and Me and Ben just wanted to respect their wishes. We didn’t... we didn’t know the circumstances of your adoption however. Still don’t entirely.”
“Like I said,” Mr. Stark cut in, just as Peter opened his mouth. “It’s a long story. Your aunt had nothing to do with it.”
A flash of... was it relief? Gratitude? Something of the sort, crossed May’s features as she glanced at Tony before crossing the room to stand next to Peter.
“Can I please just be left alone for a minute,” Peter snapped, immediately recoiling at his own tone and he didn’t dare look at either of the adults in the room- he didn’t need to see the way his outburst had affected them- he could hear it.
But his emotions were all over the place and he could tell his senses were on the verge of overloading any second and he just wanted to be alone for once.
“Please.”
Neither of them responded right away but finally after what felt like ages, but was really only about a minute later, he heard May speak up first, and Peter hated that she sounded so choked up.
“Okay, sweetie. I’ll talk to you later when I bring you your dinner.”
“If you need anything -“
“I know. I’ll be fine. I’m sorry but please.”
It took about another minute for them to move, and he heard Stark say to May as soon as the door clicked shut - “All things considered, I think he took it better than you and Simmons did.”