The Toughest Hurdle
The trailer had dropped.
Peter would have seen it by now, of course he would have. Teenagers these days were practically glued to their phones and nearly every form of social media, and Peter was no exception. Sure, the kid spent less time staring at functioning devices than he did staring at works in progress, but without access to the tower during the last week he wouldn't have many options.
Pepper and he had both wanted to tell the kid about the show before the trailer dropped. Both of them had wanted to talk things over with his Aunt and ensure that everything would be alright as far as Peter still being able to come to the tower. But then Ross had retaliated to their acceptance of terms he hadn't thought they'd be willing to comply with, and had attempted to go back on their agreement and set more regulations in order to prevent the rebel Avengers from remaining free. It had taken all of both Tony and Pepper's abilities to scour up enough power, knowledge and governmental loop-holes to prevent Ross's decisions from pushing through, and in a last ditch attempt, they had called the Avengers together to film a teaser that was dropped the next day.
A promise to the public created a barrier that even Ross couldn't break. People across America would become angered if the government denied them the peek into the lives of their heroes that they had been promised.
Fans were crazy people, and the lengths they would go to were terrifying someties, but in this one instance, Tony had been able to use that terrifying force to the advantage of... well, to the advantage of the Avengers.
Personally, he had little to no interest in joining the team again, in working with people who would so easily turn their backs on him, break his trust and hurt his friends. Rhodey's whirring braces and Tony's own slowly fading scars were a testament to the damage that Captain America and his team had done to Tony's life, and that was only what could be seen; the rift that had had to be surgically repaired between Tony's ribs from where the shield had parted them was insignificant compared to the rift that now stretched between himself and the rest of his team.
But it didn't matter that he didn't have them anymore, because he had Pepper, and Rhodey, and Happy and, maybe most importantly, he had Peter.
Peter who was so perfect, so innocent, so kind-heated and willing to help, and who looked up at Tony with those big brown eyes of his, eager to learn and eager to love. Peter who tried to be like him, who he was trying to teach to be better than himself.
Peter, who stood outside of his car, looking in the driver's window with a concerned expression on his face.
"Mr. Stark?"
Tony blinked in surprise and rolled the window down, raising a single brow at the kid as the glass blocking Peter's view slid away.
"Hey kid."
"Hey Mr. Stark, are you okay? Aunt May said you'd been out here for a while, and both of us were getting a bit concerned."
Tony suppressed a grimace. For all the dangerous, fool-hardy and stupid things in his life, he'd never felt as nervous as he did when he pulled up outside of his kid- his protege's apartment. He'd gone ahead with the show in a last ditch attempt to prevent Ross from forcing the Avengers into captivity, but he'd done so without the approval of one May Parker, and unless the woman approved her nephews presence on the show, Tony would no longer be able to see Peter, and the very thought made his chest tighten.
(Pepper would have said his heart was clenching, but he didn't have a heart, thank you very much, even if her little case that had once contained his arc-reactor claimed otherwise.)
"Concerned for little old me? Nice knowing you care, kid." A smirk was shot in the kid's direction as he swung the door of his car open, carefully avoiding hitting Peter's legs as the boy darted out of the way, allowing his mentor the exit the car.
Peter frowned, almost pouted, as he looked the short distance up at the inventor, his dark eyes betraying his disbelief at Tony's cheery attitude, but the kid still had a long way to go before he would feel comfortable calling the man out, and so kept his mouth shut as the two of them moved towards the apartment complex.
Aunt May was waiting for them, coffee poured and some sort of nightmare worthy attempt at nut-bread sitting on full display on the table. Peter shot his mentor a warning look that just made Tony want to laugh, the kid really was too caring (Tony already knew better than to touch that horrific mess after last time).
"Everything alright there, Tony?"
He sighed dramatically, gesturing to the woman. "See, you'll do it, now I just need to kid to."
"It's not respectful." Peter murmured under his breath and Aunt May just shook her head. "Don't push him, Tony. Peter isn't one to do things he thinks is wrong, and if he thinks it's disrespectful than good luck changing his mind." The woman's gin grew, eyes twinkling in a way that reminded him of his fiancé. "After all, from what I hear, he's even more stubborn than you can be when he wants."
Tony frowned, of course Pepper would have shared that. Don't get him wrong, the relationship between Pepper and May was half the reason Tony was still allowed to see the kid, because if May had been going off of the way that Tony usually presented himself, she would have already kicked the man out of Peter's life for good. But texts from Pepper and photos that made both tech-geniuses flush had been exchanged liberally, providing May with proof that Peter was indeed happy and safe with his mentor, if not a bit wild and spoiled. Not that spoiling the kid would harm him any; giving him things he wanted only ever elicited thanks from the kid, never made him entitled.
"I'm choosing to ignore that comment." Tony sniffed disdainfully, but both Peter and May grinned, too wise to his ways to believe the act.
Adjusting his sunglasses (his shield against possible disappointment and prevention of revealing his emotions), he settled into the seat that Peter offered him, crossing his legs and allowing his hands to fold neatly around one knee as he stared across at the Most-Terrifying-Woman-In-The-World-Other-Than-Pepper. "I'm sure you've seen the latest news."
"Of course."
Tony nodded, carefully avoiding reacting to the raised brow the woman shot at him as she leveled him with a look that dread him to pull anything stupid. "Good, good. Well," He glanced over at Peter, who was looking between the two adults nervously, hands tapping rapidly at his knees. "Stop it, kid, yeesh, calm down, I'm not here with bad news."
Peter winced but stilled, only for a moment, as his leg started bouncing instead making both adults sigh to themselves and attempt to return to their conversation.
"We saw the news, and the teaser." May pressed.
"Excellent, well," He resisted the urge to fidget, something that would in no ways earn him any sort of credibility after he had just scolded Peter for doing the same thing. "As you may know, the Avengers Tower is now under full surveillance in order to capture footage for the upcoming show. As a result, no part of the tower is left uncovered, meaning that Peter's apprenticeship, if you choose to allow it to continue," Peter froze in place and stared between the two, and Tony wanted more than anything to offer the kid reassurance that May wouldn't end the apprenticeship, but heck, he needed it just as bad as the kid at this point. "It would mean that Peter would be appearing on National Television."
May frowned. "As Spider-Man? I thought you were keeping his identity a secret?"
"We are." Tony clipped back. "Revealing it is out of the question until he's out of school." May nodded. "But Peter Parker is employed at Stark Industries, which operates out of Stark Tower, now Avengers Tower."
"Again." Peter murmured.
"Again." Tony agreed. "Which is why I'm here. If Peter continues his apprenticeship, it will need to be with the understanding that camera's will be on him, and that anything he does or says might appear for the world to see. I know what that's like, obviously, and I know," May raised a brow at him again, but Tony pressed forwards. "I know what it's like to be watched all the time. I understand if Peter doesn't want it, and if you don't want it, than I can respect that."
May smiled, and Peter looked nervous.
"My question for you then," Tony sat forwards, slipping his sun-glasses off to grant May an unobstructed view of his eyes.
(The windows to the soul a very delirious Peter had called them once after being stabbed in an alleyway. It was an odd thing to remember at the moment, but apparently normal people preferred being able to see each other's eyes when they talked about serious matters, and while normally Tony didn't really care about what people wanted from him, this was May, and it was something he wanted from her, and he was willing to do what it took to get it.)
"Will you allow Peter to continue at Stark Industries, as an intern, knowing this, or would you prefer that he return to only stopping by when absolutely needed?" May didn't answer immediately, and Tony pushed forwards. "That wouldn't mean he couldn't use the med-bay if needed or stop by to train or do Spider... stuff, that won't change, because he needs that. The only thing that would change is his apprenticeship."
"Ok."
"He'll still be trained, still be provided a suit-"
"Tony," May's smile was warm and her cocoa eyes twinkled brightly as she laid a hand on his arm. "I said okay. Peter can continue his apprenticeship if he still wants to, I trust that he'll be safe there, and i trust that if Peter thinks it's a bad idea, than he'll say no. But as far as I'm concerned, it's okay, all you need to do is ask him."
"Yes." Peter responded immediately, breaking Tony out of his shocked super to chuckle with May at their- her kid and his protégé.
"Little eager there, aren't we, Kid?"
Peter flushed and May sat back, withdrawing her hand. "Sounds like it."
"I'd-I'd love to continue my apprenticeship, Mr. Stark." Peter flushed bright red, almost enough to match his mask, and it made the two adults grin, Tony's hand ruffling through the kid's curls playfully for a second.
"Kinda gathered that."
"Well," May cleared her throat. "Now that that's out of the way. I made some more of that nut-bread you liked, you know, the first time you came over."
Tony and Peter both internally panicked.
"I thought you might like some."
"Oh I couldn't," Tony answered, almost too quickly, standing and smoothing out the lapels of his suit. "There's still a lot I have to do before we release the show itself and Pepper has me on a strict schedule today." That was only half true, Pepper had ensured he had plenty of time at the Parker residence, just in case May took more convincing (she had assured him May would likely say yes, but had been willing to take the precaution of extra negotiation time), and while there was still work to be done, he didn't need to leave right now.
"I'm sure you can spare a moment..." Peter might just have learned his puppy-eyed trick from his Aunt, but May lacked the adorable face to truly pull it off, and Tony knew the consequences of cowing to her will in this situation.
"I'm afraid not, press and cameras and all that. I'll take some for the road though," He added quickly, if only to satisfy the woman and preserve Peter (the kid wouldn't actually be affected with his spider-powered stomach, but it was the principle of the matter). "I'm sure Pepper wouldn't mind trying some either."
May smiled and winked. "I'll wrap it for you." And with that the woman was up and headed to the kitchen, leaving Peter to stare in horror at his mentor, who had just doomed both of them to Pepper's ire at a future barrage of terrible cooking from an Aunt under the impression that he baking skills were actually adored by the richest couple in America.