The Ferry
Peter was in trouble.
He knew it since not only Iron Man made an appearance, but so did his mom.
It's been a couple of weeks since he has seen his mom. She was wearing regular civilian clothes, her hair in a ponytail, her eyes clouded by sunglasses. He was still mad about her decision. Instead of every day, it was two weeks of each month and that bummed Peter out. And if that wasn't enough, Tony almost died and Peter couldn't help but be mad at his mom more.
Iron Man was just Iron Man. But even the suit sounded mad at him. "Previously on Peter Screws the Pooch: your mom and I tell you to stay away from this. Instead, you hacked a multimillion-dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing I told you not to do."
Peter didn't care. His mom NOR Mr. Stark even listened to Peter when he told them about arms deals the Vulture was doing. His mom steps forward, taking off her sunglasses to reveal her very disappointed eyes. Instantly, Peter wanted to put her sunglasses back on.
"Is everyone okay?" Peter asks, still sitting down.
"No thanks to you." Iron Man spits and received a little slap on the chest from Natasha.
It was far too late as Peter couldn't help but get mad, "No thanks to me?" He asks, hysterical. He jumps from his seat and makes his way to his mom and Iron Man, "Those weapons were out there, and I tried to tell you both about it. But you didn't listen. None of this would've happened if one of you had just listened to me!"
"Who do you think called the FBI, Peter?" His mom asks, crossing her arms as Tony came out of the Iron Man suit. Suddenly, Peter felt crowded, "I DID! When I saw that you were Spider-Man, I wanted to snap at you because I wanted you to live a normal life!"
"I have Spider DNA-" Peter says but was cut off from his mother. Her disappointment changes to anger. This must've been her breaking point.
"This is where you zip it!" Tony snaps, "The adults are talking."
"I worry about you each time you go on patrol because what if you don't make it back?!" Natasha proceeds, "What if people had died tonight, Pete? It would've been a different story, yes?"
Peter nods.
"And if you died..." Natasha takes a deep breath, "That would be on me. I don't need that after I thought you were dead for fifteen years."
Peter's anguish turns to regret, "I wanted to be like you, mom."
He noticed a change but it was removed just as quick as it was placed, "I wanted you to be better." She says, matter-of-factly.
Instantly, her tone went from a concerned mother to a blank spy. And Peter hated that.
He could see Tony pacing around, biting his thumb as he calls his mom over. They walk far, not wanting Peter to hear his punishment. After minutes of speaking, They walk back to Peter and this time Tony was in front of him.
"I-I'm sorry," Peter says, his voice full of gloom.
"Sorry doesn't cut it," Tony says, "I need the suit back. Your mom thought it would be just and so did I."
"For how long?" Peter asks, dreading the answer. He wanted to keep the Spider-Man suit. The suit gave Peter confidence. That he wasn't some kid from Queens who gets picked on by some teenager with no powers. That he was no longer useless to the world as Peter Parker but as Spider-Man. Spider-Man gave Peter everything.
"Forever."
Without Spider-Man, Peter was nothing.
Peter shakes his head, shock visible on his face. He could see Natasha frown but she didn't do anything about the scene unfolding. She thought it was just to take away his suit too.
"Yeah, that's how it works." Tony supplies as he made his hands curl (give me the suit).
"No, no, no... Please, please, please...." Peter pleads, his voice almost betraying him.
"Peter," Natasha's soft voice comes in, "Don't make this harder than this has to be."
"If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it." Tony cuts in, "God, I sound like my dad."
He didn't want to give them the suit. But he had no other choice.
"I don't have clothes," Peter admits sheepishly, averting his eyes to the ground.
Tony and Natasha smile, "We can change that."
-
Peter knocks on the door and Aunt May opens the door, she also happened to be upset at Peter. Today was not Peter's day.
"Hey," Peter whispers. May didn't notice he had on an oversized NYC tourist shirt (picked by Tony) and his Hello Kitty pants (Mom said he'd look in it but Peter silently disagrees). May inhales deeply, swallowing her anger and storms inside the apartment.
"I've been calling you all day. You didn't answer your phone. You can't do that." May says, her stress leaking into her voice. She goes and sits down on a chair and Peter stands behind her. Peter didn't like this day. He wanted this day to be over. Everyone was suddenly not happy about Peter and what he did today and he wished the disappointment, the melancholy, every emotion didn't come towards him as he tears up.
"I called five of your friends. Five." She points out.
"I'm fine May, " Peter reassures, "I'm fine honestly, relax."
Instantly, May stands and she faces Peter. It felt like he was a younger boy with the sudden power that May displayed and she didn't even know. "You." She points at Peter, "Cut the bullshit. I know you left detention. I know you left the hotel room in Washington. I know you sneak out of this house every night, Pete. That's not fine. Pete, you have to tell me what's been going on! It's just me and you, baby."
"I lost the Stark Internship." He lies, and if anything, he tears up even more.
"What?" May asks.
"Y-Yeah," Peter says and sits, "And mom was on his side too."
May knew The Black Widow was his mother. After the plane crash, she received all of Peters things and one of them being the tapes. It wasn't so far-off that she watched it at some point. She was in denial until Tony showed her the birth certificate and pictures of Richard and Natasha.
But from the looks of it, May was happy to know that Peter wasn't all alone with May. Peter sits down and May goes over to hug him and stroke his head. "It's okay," May comforts, "You did your best and if Stark or your mom couldn't see it, they suck." She says jokingly.
"Yeah," Peter says and leans into his Aunt. It felt peaceful until Aunt May smells him.
"You smell like garbage, Petey. Go shower."
-
Peter nearly died as the plane landed and he rolls into the sand, his ears ringing along with his heart beating way too quick.
He stopped the Vulture-- Liz's dad from stealing Tony's equipment while wearing his homemade suit. At least he thought he did. He staggers up, dazed from the fire before seeing claws grabbing him, keeping him still and throwing punches. From the punching, Peter could see sparks from Vulture's wings and Peter knows that wasn't supposed to be there.
"Hey, Pedro." Adrian says smugly.
Peter disregards his name and shoots a web but he sadly missed and instantly, he becomes the Vulture's prey as he was grabbed by the claws again and gets pinned down. Screaming in pain, Peter tries to get the claws loose and it does work. Vulture lets him go but Peter still sees the sparks on his wings.
Sighing, Peter shoots a web towards Vulture but there must've been some sort of miscommunication because of Vulture snips his web, clutches him again, and slams him into the ground. And then again. And again.
Losing consciousness, Peter fights against it but his body almost didn't as he was examined by Vulture and was dropped. Peter soon realizes it wasn't for his sake but rather of Vulture seeing a crate of Tony's arc reactors. Peter stands, incredibly thankful he was still alive but he had no time to think more as he sees more sparks rain down on Vulture's wings.
And yet, he didn't stop. "Dude! Your wings are going to explode!" He shouts as he shoots another web to the crate and with all his strength, he pulls the crate.
Vulture does too and it becomes a twisted tug of war as they both try to get something that isn't theirs. "Time to go home, Pete," Adrian says.
Well, at least he got my name right. Kinda.
"I'm trying to save you!" Peter exclaims before the wings snapped his webbing. Trying to go for another, he shoots another web but this time nothing came out. Fear consumes him as he sees the Vulture fly away but the fear was escalated as he sees that the wingsuit fails to fly higher and instead of flying away and claiming victory, Adrian falls from the sky and into the sand along with the wings.
And if things couldn't get worse, an explosion followed.
As the fire blooms, Peter's heart began to pick up its pace, "No." He says towards Adrian possibly being dead. There was no way a regular human can survive a fall with two failed wings.
Peter was wrong and he was happy to be wrong. Running into the flames, Peter found Adrian in pain as his own invention stabbed him in the back. Peter runs over, his legs wanting to give up and they did as he was next to the man that tried to kill him.
They both stare at each other, Peter gaze with concern but Adrian's had something else. Maybe respect, Peter didn't know. He turns Adrian around and sees that the wing hit the spine. Hiding his sudden despair, Peter knew he couldn't take out the wing.
"I'm sorry," He says to Adrian and grabs a nearby paper and writes.
Adrian didn't say anything as he webbed up carefully by Peter Parker. Not as Spider-Man.
Peter walks away from the fire and goes to the Cyclone.
As an hour passed, Peter sees the rescue party and Happy. They all see Adrian and his note. Happy looks around as if searching for Spider-Man. Spider-Man, of course, was away and finally rests for a little.
If Peter had stayed awake, he would've seen Iron Man pick him up and put him into med bay.
-
Natasha looks at Peter. She should've known that her own son would do the death-defying stunt of fighting someone that could kill him. But, he did and maybe she should've recommended Tony to take away the suit. Peter was battered but Dr. Cho said his accelerated healing would take care of everything but Natasha insisted that Peter should stay.
He was resting. Her boy looked peaceful if she could erase the bruise on his left cheek. She ran her fingers through his hair and remembered the times when even he was upset, he asked for advice.
Natasha was reading Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief when she was tapped on the shoulder by a flustered Peter. Closing the book with her finger, she looks at him with a smirk, "Something up, Spider-boy?" She asks.
Peter nods with a smile, "I think I might like someone.." He mutters to her.
That was cute, Natasha thinks. He trusts her. "Well, who's the lucky gal?"
"Uhh, his names Harry Osborn."
"Osborn? As in Norman Osborn's son?" Natasha asks, Stark was going to have a big fit.
Peter nods, his head tilted in confusion. "You're not against me?" He asks and instantly, Natasha could see the real reason Peter was flustered.
"That you like boys? Not really, No." Natasha says with a shrug, "You love who you love, Who am I to stop that?"
Peter became excited. Natasha didn't really see why but she supposed it was a big accomplishment to come out to her. Still, seeing him so excited made her smile.
One more step.
She walked down to Tony's lab and puts her thumb on the scanner. To her surprise, she was let in and she goes to Tony who was upgrading his latest mark suit. Even as being her old friend, Natasha could see he was keeping busy to buzz off whatever feeling he had.
"Hey," Natasha says trying to be soft, "You okay?"
Tony turns to her, head tilting to the left a little, "No, I'm confused as to why you're here. Not to be rude or anything."
Natasha thought he had the right to be rude. After all, her decisions almost cost Tony his life. "You didn't delete the scanner but I came down here because I wanted to check on you. Not to kill you or give you a mouthful."
Tony grunts.
"I know you, Tony," She starts, "I know that when something goes wrong, you take the weight and put it on your shoulders because you think it's your fault."
"Well it is, isn't it?" He asks with a frown.
"No," Natasha says, her words stern and unmoving, "None of us could predict that Peter would go after him with his onesie suit."
"But, he's a superhero, Nat,"
Nat.
"I know, but here's the thing. We did what we thought was right. It wasn't one hundred percent right, but on some level of right because Peter did the opposite of what we tell him to do. One of us was going to have enough of it at some point."
"But I should be patient with the kid, He may have done some foolish stuff, but it wasn't ill-intentioned."
"Then we teach him," Natasha says without hesitation, "We teach him about what the Avengers do when danger lurks. We can't prepare for the future but we can teach him in the present."
Tony considers it. "Okay, When should we start training?"
"When Peter gets better, but right now..."
"What?"
"You just bond with him at lab time, okay?"
Tony nods. Natasha says her goodbye and leaves the lab.
With a smile on her face, Natasha heads up to Peter and sees him eating jello.
"Hello, Spidey," Was all she said before going in the room and watching Peter's favorite show: Parks and Recreation.
...
"Is this where you get your quips from Pete?"
"..."
"..."
"Maybe."