I don't think I know you.

“Answer the phone kid.” 

“Where are you-I’ll come get you, I just want to talk.” 

“Did you seriously jump out the window?”

“Kid, where are you?” 

“You know it’s cold outside. You better be using your heater.”

“Can you call me when you get these Peter?” 

“C’mon Spider-ling. I know your phone is getting these.” 

“Why did you take Nanny protocol off?!” 

“Peter, it’s been hours, I know you’ve seen one of these.” 

“You better be safe somewhere.”

“I’m sorry Pete, just text me or something please?” 

Peter crouched in the cold biting air, listening to the almost-hundred voice-mails that his phone had gained in the last few days. He hadn’t even gotten to the text messages yet, and he was sure his finger’s were going to go numb.

He punched Mister Stark. He possibly broke Tony Stark’s ribs. 

God he was dead. 

None of this was making sense. Mister Stark was supposed to be dead. Dead dead, he saw him die. Watched him slowly try and leave them-and he even got stopped from doing anything to help. Beck being alive made sense somehow-he was an illusionist-and EDITH was able to be fooled. Peter was able to be fooled much easier-Beck could have gotten EDITH in on it-and torturing Peter was one of Beck’s pass-times, along with ruining his life in all the worst ways. 

Tony being alive made no sense. Just because he wasn’t invited to a probably very expensive funeral didn’t mean anything. He’d never met his family-not even his wife, and that was probably because Peter didn’t belong with them-and that would explain why he wasn’t invited. Well…that, and him being a completely kinless kid from Queens who couldn’t pay his bills half the time. 

Did Mister Strange know Mister Stark was alive? If he didn't, is that why Mister Stark remembers him? He’s almost sure Mister Stark isn’t an A.I. 

This would be so fucked up if it turned out Mister Stark was really never dead, and he just hated him. 

First Peter knows absolutely nothing about what happened after that fight-and now he comes back to find Peter failing to live up to any of his expectations? Hating him for failing to be the next IronMan isn’t that far-fetched. People need IronMan. They got along great for years without Spider-Man. 

Maybe Mister Stark was actually dead still, and Peter was losing his mind. It felt like it. He couldn’t tell what he should think-and it was an unpleasant thing. Not knowing always was. 

Knowing it wasn’t Beck-because Beck’s illusion’s could be disrupted when he hit them-was almost relieving. Knowing it was someone who was also supposed to be dead didn’t help. It made it worse if anything. Especially when he thought over what he’d done. He ignored one of the richest people he’d ever met-he probably upset him by continuously bailing-he hit him-and he probably ruined his relationship with him. 

This is a huge mess. 

What’s he supposed to say if he finds him again? ‘Sorry I thought you were a super-villain that came to kill me’? That probably wouldn’t go over well. 

‘My bad’ would have to work. At least for now. 

What if Mister Stark wants Karen back? What if he’s angry he failed to take over as the new IronMan? What if he just wants to tell him he’s disappointed in him for how he handled  Beck-and Norman, and everyone else?! What if he’s angry that he messed with the multiverse-and he denied all of those people their original endings?!

Doctor Strange was angry with him for it-and they were…more alike then they’d admit-what if he just fucked everything up, and now Mister Stark was going to tell him so? 

That was a possibility-especially if Doctor Strange knew somehow as well. Maybe he’d be angrier about his not-so-world wide prowess lately-or any of his other shortcomings he’s happened to have in the last three years. He could be angry at him for any of them. He should really have done better at filling in expectations. He would have if he knew Mister Stark was going to come back. 

If he knew any of the things that happened, if he saw his apartment-he’d probably be disappointed.  

This wasn’t going to be pleasant, was it?

Maybe he’ll get lucky, and he’ll freeze to death before he got there. 

That would be better than explaining this to Mister Stark. 

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------//

Finding Peter was harder than it should have been. He knew the apartment building-sadly enough-and he didn’t have much trouble getting there. It was the whole walking up fourteen floors of stairs to get to the roof thing that made it much harder. He was too old to be chasing his kid around the city. At least without a suit-and it might be a long while before he gets back into one of those. 

Maybe it was just because it was cold. It was cold, and that’s why he was in a bit of a hurry. By the time he had arrived at the building, it had started to snow. By the time he got out on the rooftop, it had started to stick. 

That’s not what he was paying attention to though. 

Peter was crouched in the shadows on the opposite side of the roof, lighting one side of his face up with his cell phone. Tony tried to ignore the ache in his ribs as he let the door shut behind him. 

“Peter?” His kid didn’t acknowledge him-once again, but Tony wasn’t going to walk over there. He’d already learned what happens when he got too close to unresponsive Peter. Either he bailed, or he started swinging, and he didn’t have his suit with him-much less his web-thingies. Tony wasn’t going to take a chance. He just wanted to get everyone in the car, where it wasn’t freezing. “Kid, c’mon, I’m not gonna mess with you. We can just-”

“I’m sorry.” Tony stopped, hand’s still moving like he was talking, frowning at being interrupted. 

“Excuse me?” Peter moved-for once, not to hit him, or jump off the roof -but to look at him. 

“I’m sorry .” Peter stood up- god he was tall as Tony now wasn’t he-he stood up, and edged closer to the wall than Tony would have liked. “I didn’t-I didn’t know you were-and now-you’re-I’m-I’m just sorry-” 

“Kid-”

“I am-I promise- I didn’t know-I wouldn’t have hit you if I did-”

“Kid-it’s okay-alright? We can talk about it later.” Tony-in all honesty didn’t want to talk about it later. He wanted to hear his reasoning for all of this-but now that he was standing there, listening to his kid ramble for an answer he clearly didn’t want to give, he would much rather be in a warm car, where he was sure-at least for a little while that Peter wouldn’t be shaking out here in the cold. It wasn’t just that though. This was the first real time that they’d spoken since…since Tony’s snap, and it e something more lighthearted. 

He didn’t want to touch on why Peter sounded afraid just yet. 

“C’mon-it’s cold-it’s snowing now-I’ll give you a ride home.” Being out in the cold is just as unpleasant as he remembered, and he doubted Peter was comfortable in it either. Unlike what Tony hoped for, he stood there, full of hesitation. 

“I-I can get home-”

“Pete, just take the free ride home. I won’t keep you for long.” That’s not what he wanted to say. He wanted to offer him a trip out to Stark cabin-where the rest of his family were, instead of that drafty piece of work that claimed was an apartment. Tony just got him back-without all the kicking and screaming, and he’d rather not have to leave him anywhere. He wasn’t going to ignore it-or deny it now. Peter was like his kid at this point-and the idea of leaving him somewhere with hardly anything made his stomach turn. 

He’d still drop him off if that’s what he wanted. He’d manage that for him-as long as he could come back. Maybe put some food in the kid’s fridge-or figure out why this was happening after- that . 

It was safe to say he was worried about it. It was too bad that Tony would have to worry about it later, later as in when Peter stopped being visibly nervous around him, and he was sure he wasn’t going to have to search the city for him again.

Peter-after some silent deliberation, went to walk past him, and down the stairs. 

Right. Time to take him back to that empty-nearly foodless apartment. 

Great. Totally not going to feel guilty when he inevitably drops him off with nothing but the clothes on his person, and hopefully a hot-chocolate. 

Tony went to get into the car, stopping when he noticed where Peter had-about three feet away from the passenger’s side of the vehicle. 

“What?”

“You-You promise , that you’re not Beck?”

Who ?