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Being a Stark [Superfamily]

Chapter 10

Peter finishes the arc reactor the day after going to the Facility.

He goes to school, gets back to the tower – even answers some questions from Francis, who had been wondering where Peter went – and then starts on adding the final touches to the device in front of him. He’d been going on a good pace, too, until he got to the final part.

The part that he’s been postponing for the past few days.

“That’s what you get for pulling it off until the last thing,” Peter mutters to himself. “FRIDAY, can you explain to me what this ‘Badassium’ is and why it’s not on the periodic table?”

“Badassium is an element created by Mr. Stark to counter Palladium-poisoning. It is based upon Howard Stark’s research of the Tesseract. So far, there are only a few specimens of this element present. As to why it’s not on the periodic table is mostly because of the choice of the word ‘badass’ as a base.”

Peter snorts, not really surprised about it as he shakes his head.

“Well, any way for me to get my hands on it?” Peter asks.

“Only Mr. Stark is in possession of these, I’m afraid,” FRIDAY answers. Peter throws his head back and groans. Then he grabs his papers together and throws them into his bag along with the arc reactor. He’ll take care of that the next time he sees Mr. Stark at the Facility.

Seeing that it’s almost seven, Peter reaches into the front of his bag and takes out his box with medications, checking them over before taking them in with the glass of water that has been resting on his desk. After that, he quickly cancels his reminder for today.

Then he stands up and straightens his clothes before walking away from his desk. As he passes Dum-E by, he pats him gently in head before making his way to the toilet.

When he washes his hands, Peter takes a good look at the person he sees in front of him, actually a bit surprised at the weight he’s gained again. In comparison to how he’s been back in September, it’s a good difference.

He knows Aunt May hasn’t mentioned it for a reason; she’s always being careful around him, measuring her words carefully as if afraid to trigger him or something. And while Peter still feels like he’s not really in complete control yet, he is aware that, somehow, things are going slightly better. Despite the small setback last week, even.

“Mr. Stark is currently in the Penthouse.”

Peter pulls away from the basin, clearing his throat and shaking his head.

“Excuse me?” Peter asks. After these past weeks at Stark Industries, Peter finds that he’s grown pretty used to having FRIDAY around. She can be quite the sarcastic AI when it comes to it, but she helps him out more often than not, and that should count for something.

Peter thinks back of the first three weeks back at the tower, where he’d ask the same question daily in the hope that he would one day show up. At the beginning, of course, FRIDAY didn’t tend to answer him at all. Ever since discovering who Peter really is, she seems to have changed a lot.

“Mr. Stark is currently at the Penthouse,” FRIDAY says, but the way she’s speaking sounds weird, as if she’s trying to give away another, unspoken message. “He’s currently not allowing anybody in.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Peter asks, trying to get more out of it.

“Mrs. Potts came by earlier to collect the rest of her belongings,” she explains, and Peter’s mouth falls open in understanding. He puts his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and looks down to the floor. “She left about two ago.”

So that’s why he had seen Mrs. Potts earlier. She doesn’t come by often, usually staying at the organization back in Malibu.

“A lot can happen in an hour,” Peter mutters, rubbing his chin as he looks to the side for a moment. Then he decides it’s best to just walk out of the bathroom before anybody catches him talking to himself in here. FRIDAY usually stays quiet when there’s somebody else around Peter, so they don’t really know he talks a lot with her.

As Peter gets back to his desk, he quickly puts in the wireless ear-pieces he got from Mr. Stark, which would allow him to take on calls while keeping his hands free. Right now, he keeps it in to be in a direct line with FRIDAY as he sits back at his desk. The others are currently at the cafeteria, scrambling together some dinner. Peter would join them, but he’s forgotten to bring money along.

“Mr. Stark isn’t allowing any phone calls, either,” FRIDAY suddenly adds without Peter having to ask for it. The teenager hums while leaning back in his chair.

“FRIDAY, are you trying to tell me something?” he asks instead, looking at the ceilig.

“I cannot discuss the state Mr. Stark is currently in,” FRIDAY answers, sounding a bit… pushy?

“And you can’t let me in?”

“Negative.”

Peter sighs and pulls his hand away from his face, taking a good look at everything happening around him.

“Can you maybe call Steve Rogers for me?” Peter starts. In the past few weeks, he’s seen a lot more of the man. They don’t talk a lot, but they’re friendly to each other and Steve always smiles at him. The reason for their limited contact is probably because he and Mr. Stark are practically avoiding each other, which Peter thinks sucks. He’d always thought Cap and Mr. Stark were very good friends.

“Calling,” FRIDAY says, and Peter hears the dialing tone coming up in his ear. He pulls his hood over his head and leans his elbows on his desk as he waits for the man to pick up.

“This is Steve Rogers,” suddenly comes up. Peter takes a deep breath and then sighs.

“Hi, it’s Peter,” he starts. “I’m sorry for calling you, but I have a bit of an issue here.”

“Tell me,” Steve says.

“FRIDAY just came to tell me that Mr. Stark is in his penthouse, having locked everybody out and accepting no phone-calls at all. Should I be worried?” Peter asks. Steve stays quiet for a moment.

“Have you tried to get FRIDAY to open the door?” Steve asks. Peter shakes his head, despite the fact that Steve can’t see it.

“She doesn’t allow it,” Peter answers. There’s a sigh coming from the other side of the line, and then some shuffling noises.

“I’m on my way. Try and see if you can open de door in any way?” Steve asks. Peter nods and gets off his chair, resting his hands back in the pockets of his hoodie as he starts walking towards the door. He knows he’s looking like he’s up to no good if he’s walking around like this, but people know him by now.

Peter notices the people coming back up from their dinner break. Some greet him, relieved from their small moment of free time. Peter just nods at them as he waits for everybody to step out of the elevator. When the last person comes out, Peter startles upon seeing her red hair.

“Michelle, hi,” Peter says, not really happy upon seeing her since all she does is glare at him. Even now she’s giving him her death-stare.

“You’re up to something,” Michelle says, putting her hands in the pockets of her pants as she leans against the elevator, not seeming interested in getting out.

“Not at all?” Peter says, raising his hands in an innocent gesture. He’s only planning on getting to the Penthouse and try and coax Mr. Stark in open the door, that’s all.

“Then what’s with the sneaky outfit? Not so sneaky, by the way.”

“I was just cold,” Peter counters before pulling the hood off his head. “Listen, I just need to use the elevator for a moment, do you mind?”

“Dinner break is already over. You lost your chance for a break,” Michelle returns. Peter sighs and rolls his eyes up to the ceiling. FRIDAY help me, he thinks to himself. Then as if the AI listened to his thoughts, her voice comes up in the air.

“Miss Jones, there’s a phone-call waiting for you at your desk,” FRIDAY lies – or does she – causing for Michelle to step back and look at the ceiling with a frown.

“You’re kidding me, right?” she asks.

“I’m afraid not,” FRIDAY continues. Michelle then looks down and sighs again, giving Peter another glare before getting out of the elevator. As she steps away, Peter quickly jumps inside, watching the doors close before he can even push the button.

“That was close, thank you,” Peter mutters, leaning back and seeing his reflection in the mirror.

“How do you plan on getting inside?” FRIDAY asks. Peter hums in thought, looking down at his shoes as he tries to come up with some things.

“You sure I can’t ask you to let me in?” he tries.

“I’m sorry, I cannot ignore an order coming from Mr. Stark,” FRIDAY responds. Peter sighs again before pulling his hood back up. He doesn’t know why he does it, it’s not even that cold.

Once the elevator announces that he’s up, Peter steps through the doors and looks around for a bit. There’s only one large door that he sees; the only entrance to the Penthouse that he knows of – except for maybe the balcony, but Peter’s not ready to try that one out again.

He comes to stand in front of the door, seeing that there’s no way to open it the normal way. A quick glance around makes him realize quickly that a code is needed to get in. Peter lets out a long breath as he leans forward a bit, trying to make out the numbers that have been pressed the most times.

“Only Mr. Stark’s code will allow entrance,” FRIDAY says.

“Does anybody know this code?”

“No, everybody allowed in here has their own,” she answers. Figures, the guy really thinks everything through. He can maybe try to hack it? But then again, this is Stark they’re talking about. There’s no way a kid can get through that, no matter if they’re sharing the same DNA.

“How long until Steve arrives?”

“Approximate ten minutes,” FRIDAY answers. Peter bites his lip, pulling out his cellphone and checking the time. Ten minutes, okay. He can find something in ten minutes, right?

Maybe he should go through the balcony? He can easily jump down from the roof, get inside through there. It would just be written off as a very daring and risky move?

But, no, they would ask too many questions if he would do that. Sure, he can survive the drop – or he could just crawl down – but any other kid would end up with broken bones, and he can’t fake that. It’s not a good idea at all.

Seven minutes. Crap, Peter needs to come up with something now!

“Breaking through the door?” Peter asks out loud.

“It’s made of reinforced materials, and even if you would break it, the alarm will only go off.”

“FRIDAY, I know you have to listen to Mr. Stark here, but you asked me for help; you could help me out a bit in return, you know?”

“I cannot assist you in getting inside; it goes against my protocols.”

“Yeah, but how else am I going to do it?” Peter asks, throwing his arms in the air.

“You are a Stark. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

But he’s not; he’s not a Stark, he only shares the same blood with one. Had he been born in normal circumstances, sure, he’d be Peter Stark instead of Peter Parker. But it is what it is now; Peter can call himself Mr. Stark’s son all he wants, he’ll always stay a Parker.

He owes his dad at least that much.

Steve arrives even earlier than FRIDAY had predicted. When Peter hears the doors from the elevator ‘ping’ again, he turns around to see the Captain walk out, looking angry and scared at the same time. The moment he sees Peter standing there, he runs up to him.

“Any luck?” he asks, but Peter shakes his head.

“No, none so far,” Peter answers in defeat.

But then FRIDAY’s words make him think. You are a Stark. Did she not once mention ‘Stark’s heirs’? How Mr. Stark’s offspring would be equally in control of FRIDAY as he is. With a soft gasp, he thinks that he’s figured it out.

“FRIDAY, override code B498-1-Stark-J-543,” he says, knowing the code by heart even though he’s only read it once. His heart is already beating faster than it should in the situation; especially when he promised himself he would only use this one in case of danger.

Steve gives him a strange look as he speaks, and Peter feels his face redden. He only wished he’d figure it out before Steve got there. Now the man might ask questions as to how Peter even knows this code.

“Override accepted,” FRIDAY says.

“Let us inside, please,” Peter says, voice shivering all of the sudden. If FRIDAY would stimulate him in using the codes, that could only mean that there’s something incredibly wrong, right?

The moment the doors open, Cap pushes inside without hesitation, calling out for Mr. Stark before Peter can even walk in. Peter waits for a few more seconds, trying to calm himself down. Then he looks up at the ceiling.

“I hate that you made me do that, FRIDAY,” Peter admits.

“I’m sorry Mr. Parker.”

It’s best not to dwell on it. Peter takes his first step inside of the penthouse, looking around and seeing what looks like a wreckage – as if the Hulk had been walking around here and stumbled against everything. Peter’s mouth falls open, surprised at how completely different it looks from the last time he’s been here.

“Oh my God, Tony!”

Peter’s head turns to the side, searching for the source of that sound. It comes from the door that Peter suspects is Mr. Stark’s bedroom. Immediately, he starts walking forward, only to stop in his tracks immediately afterwards.

Does he want to see what’s going on there?

“How many did you take?” Steve asks, sounding panicked. Peter finds himself frozen in place after that. If Steve is reacting like this, it surely isn’t good.

“Whazzit tyou?” Mr. Stark’s slurred voice asks. Peter’s heart breaks a little, especially when he thinks back of yesterday, the way Mr. Stark assure Steve that he was fine.

Clearly, he’s not.

“Tony, how much did you take?”

Peter swallows, forcing himself to walk forward a bit, but still not arriving at the door before he stops himself once more.

“Y’know Cap, is no use at’ll,” Mr. Stark says. “There’ssssno leg-cy fffor ma compny.”

“Tony,” Steve starts. Peter takes another step.

“’m gonn be alone for the rest of m’life.”

“You don’t know that, Tony,” Steve assures him. Peter is almost at the door. “Now please, tell me how much you took?”

There’s a moment of silence. Peter can finally see what’s happening as he stands at the doorway. There he sees Steve, kneeling down on the ground while holding Mr. Stark’s face in his hands.

Mr. Stark looks downright horrible; his hair is all over the place, even from where Peter his standing he can smell the alcohol. The dark circles under his eyes look even worse than before, and his cheeks are wet; probably from the tears that are rolling down.

Peter’s heart breaks when he sees this. How could the man make such a turn in behavior? Yesterday he looked completely fine, and now here he is, lying in bed after what looks like a possible suicide-attempt.

“Jus’ a handful,” Mr. Stark then answers, lowering his head a bit forward until it’s leaning against Steve’s. The Captain breathes out heavily and lets go of Mr. Stark’s face, instead wrapping his arms around him in a strong hug. Then he turns around and looks at Peter.

“Can you please ask FRIDAY to prepare the suit? I need to fly him out of here,” Steve says. Peter nods with an effort, but before he can open his mouth, FRIDAY already answers for him.

“Mark 51 is on its way,” she says. Steve nods once more before pulling back a little bit. Peter can see Mr. Stark grabbing Steve’s shirt, as if afraid to let him go. With a deep sigh, Peter steps forward and takes Mr. Stark’s hand into his own. Then Steve steps back to take out his own phone. In the background, Peter can hear him call after Dr. Cho, asking her to prepare the operating room at the Compound and explaining what exactly happened.

“You’re not alone, Mr. Stark,” Peter then says, trying to mute away the sound of the phone-call. He squeezes Mr. Stark’s hand, trying to smile at him but wondering if he’s actually managing it. There are tears rolling down his cheeks, too.

“I didn’t know you were there,” Mr. Stark mutters out. He rolls around until his face is pressed against the pillow. Whatever he says next is muffled, but Peter can still understand it. “I would’ve helped y’out. Would’ve protected her.”

Peter doesn’t know what else to say, knowing that a lot would have been different hat Mr. Stark known that Peter was there. Even thinking he was Richard Parker’s son, Peter is sure Mr. Stark would have looked out for them.

“The suit’s here,” Steve says, walking back to them and leaning forward a bit. Peter nods and lets go of Mr. Stark’s hand, allowing the Super Soldier to pick the man up and carry him back to where Mark 51 is waiting, open. After some difficulty, Steve manages to put Mr. Stark inside. Then he looks back at Peter.

“Can you use that override code of yours to get FRIDAY to send us back to the Compound?” he asks. Peter nods, instructing FRIDAY to do so, then, and receiving an affirmative. Then, after a short goodbye and a quick thanks, the two are off, the suit holding Mr. Stark inside and carrying Steve along for the flight. Peter watches them go until he can’t see them anymore.

“I am sorry you had to see all this, Mr. Parker,” FRIDAY then says. Peter shakes his head.

“Just make sure that they don’t kill him,” he answers surprised at how even his voice sounds. Then he clears his throat and looks around. “I’ll better clean it up a little bit.”

And with FRIDAY’s help, Peter starts picking stuff off the ground. There’s still a lot to do.

It’s probably an understatement to say that Tony feels like crap when he wakes up.

He knows that he’s not in his room; the colder temperature coming from the air-conditioning makes that clear enough, along with the various sounds that come along with it.

Tony can hear breathing; there’s somebody else in the room with him. He can hear something that sounds like a pump, starting up in regular intervals and going on for about ten minutes before stopping again. Then there’s voices in the back, somebody moving very close to him. Door closing and opening again.

Tony knows that he’s in the medical department of the Facility, and he remembers well enough why.

Shame, that’s probably the first thing he’s feeling. Only two days ago did he tell Cap that he was alright, that he wouldn’t do anything stupid. But then Pepper came to pick up the last of her stuff, and Tony was once again reminded of how alone he actually is.

Looking up old pictures of Mary didn’t particularly help, either.

What he doesn’t know, really, is how he got here. He’s sure that his self-destructing tendencies have caused for him to shut everybody out of the penthouse, but somehow somebody managed to get inside and get him out of there, and Tony’s very sure that person is not FRIDAY. She hadn’t even been allowed to call for help.

“Tony?”

That’s Cap, Tony is sure of it. He tries to open his eyes but the light is too much. As he wrinkles his nose, he feels that there’s another tube pushed through it. Crap, that hadn’t been comfortable the last time back in Afghanistan. Out of reflex, Tony reaches up to pull it out, only to have a strong hand stop him.

“That needs to stay in,” Cap says, and Tony grunts in annoyance, throwing his head back and breathing out heavily. Then he makes another attempt at opening his eyes, blinking more often than not as he tries to adjust to the light around him. The first thing he sees is Steve sitting in a chair next to him.

He wants to speak, but his throat is hoarse and hurts when he tries. Instead, he tries to swallow and shakes his head.

“Dr. Cho and her team pumped your stomach empty after I took you in. She’s pretty angry, by the way. Everybody is.”

Tony grunts and closes his eyes again when he feels some tears form in his eyes. He takes a few deep breaths, biting on his lower lip while Cap speaks.

“Peter called me up, he said that FRIDAY was acting weird. We found you upstairs, but you pretty much destroyed the penthouse.”

“Ho-“ Tony starts to say, but his throat once again protests. Then he swallows once more and tries again. “How did you get in?” he whispers. He sees Cap shrug next to him.

“I don’t know,” the man admits. Now that Tony’s really looking, he can see how tired Steve really is. His eyes drop shut every few seconds, and his hair is messy. He looks like he’s been here all night without taking a moment to rest. “The kid, Peter, I think he hacked FRIDAY or something. Suddenly she opened the door.”

Tony frowns but then decides not to worry about that right now. It’s not his biggest concern right now, though he might have to keep a closer watch on the kid if he can manage to bypass FRIDAY’s system.

“I’m-“ he begins, but then he starts coughing, his sentence dying on his tongue. Steve quickly puts his hand behind Tony’s back and pushes him forward until he’s sitting up. Then he gently taps his back.

“I know you’re sorry,” Steve says calmly. “I’m sorry, too. I knew you weren’t alright, but I didn’t do anything.”

“You tried,” Tony gets out in between coughs. Steve shakes his head.

“I didn’t do enough.” Then, as Tony recovers again from the sudden fit, Steve pulls his hand away, leaning back against the chair he’s put next to Tony’s bed. “But that’s going to change now.”

“Let me guess,” Tony starts. “I’m grounded from any field work?”

Steve gives him a strange look, not giving anything away about what he thinks of it.

“I think that’s for the best,” he then says after a long pause. Tony nods, understanding where he’s coming from. Using the Iron Man armor surely isn’t the best idea at all right now. He’s too powerful over FRIDAY, and if he would be in actual danger, she wouldn’t be able to help him.

Except, she seems to have found a loophole in the Parker-kid. That sneaky girl…

“And I know you hate it, but you really can’t be alone. You need somebody around you, for your own safety,” Steve adds. Tony rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

“No, I don’t need a babysitter,” he protests. “Besides, the kid is going to be around most of the time.”

“The kid doesn’t count,” Steve retorts. “There’s also no choice in the matter. The others have already agreed and are working out a schedule on who will take which shift.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Tony complains, turning his head back and eyes peeled on the ceiling. The team already barely takes him seriously, and now they can add this to the list of ‘why Tony Stark isn’t fit to be an Avenger’. So far, the creation of Ultron is on the top of said list.

“We can’t help you if you won’t let us, Tony,” Steve adds. “You scared the kid. I don’t know why he suddenly got into your radar, but in some way you must care for him. Think of how he must have felt to see his idol in that position?”

Peter… the poor kid. Tony’s almost sure he’ll want nothing to do with him anymore. Tony is supposed to be a mentor, somebody to learn from. He even gave the kid a speech about how things will get better. What’s he supposed to think now?

“He’s Mary’s son,” Tony then says lowly, eyes stinging again from fresh tears. Keep them in!

“Who’s Mary?” Steve asks. Tony then chuckles despite himself, shaking his head again.

“Mary Parker, the first woman I loved. We were good friends, but I screwed it up,” Tony explains. When Steve stays quiet, he takes that as his cue to start explaining.

And so he tells him of how they started working together, bringing biology and technology together as they started to think about creating better medical equipment. It was something Tony did in between creating the weapons for Stark Industries.

He had always known that Mary didn’t like him as much as he liked her, so he kept it to himself, sleeping around in an attempt to forget about it. Obviously, that never worked.

He tells about the day that Mary met Richard, how her mood changed completely, making her happier all the time. Peter liked her that way, so despite the heartache he felt, he congratulated her when she announced they were together.

Then he explains about the night they both got drunk; the time that Richard had pushed her buttons too much, and she had been this close to just end the relationship. How they started drinking, and then kissing, and eventually ended up in bed together.

Steve listens without interrupting him. He nods when it’s required, and stays by Tony’s side the entire time. When Tony’s finished with admitting that Mary died, Steve looks down sadly before letting out a deep breath.

“The reason I suddenly want the kid closer is not because he’s Mary’s son, particularly,” Tony then adds carefully. “If anything, it stings seeing him all the time as a reminder that she shut me out of her life completely.”

“Then why do you do this to yourself?” Steve asks. Tony just shrugs.

“The kid’s lost so much,” Tony explains. “His parents, his uncle, his first girlfriend even died because of the Goblin – yeah, that’s the casualty we were told about. A freakin’ sixteen-year-old girl.”

“Oh God…”

“The kid can’t take much more. Got depression and PTSD, barely got any money, and an Aunt that works day and night to provide for him.”

Steve nods, face looking serious, if not a little pained.

“Then I need you to realize, Tony, that if he can’t take much more, you shouldn’t put him into that position,” Steve suddenly says sternly. “He held up pretty good, last night, but even I could see that he wasn’t handling it very well internally.”

Tony stays quiet, turning his head to the side once more.

“Who’s got the first shift of babysitting me?” Tony then asks, realizing that he’s got no other option other than to agree to it. Just after he’s finished his sentence, the door opens, revealing none other than Natasha.

“Steve, you go to bed, I’ll take over” she says without even looking at Tony. Steve sighs but stands up, giving Tony one last glance before heading towards the door. When he passes Natasha, the woman stops him shortly to give him a light kiss on the cheek. Then she whispers something to him, which Tony can’t hear.

Once Steve is gone and Nat has taken his place on the chair, the woman fishes out a pair of cards and starts distributing them.

“Shall we play?” she asks, and Tony nods, grateful for the distraction she’s offering.





They’re keeping it quiet, Peter notices quickly enough.

There’s no news on what happened the evening before. Nothing on TV, nothing in the newspapers. Nobody even mentions it online. It’s as if nothing has happened.

Peter knows better, of course; he’s spent until almost midnight to clean up the Penthouse – despite FRIDAY telling him not to do it – and only stopped when a furious Aunt May called him back up, in search for him.

The next day, Peter finds himself at school, but he figures out quickly enough that he might as well have been a ghost. He pays attention as much as he can, and he makes the exercises they’re giving him, but everything people tell him goes right over his head.

It’s probably better this way, rather than having to hear the insults they’ve prepared for him today.

Ned comes to him during lunch, asking him what is wrong. He even gets a strange look from this Michelle-girl – who is apparently on his school as well, what are the odds? Teachers often have to pull him out of his thoughts, and he almost got himself another detention, but eventually the day is finished and he gets to go home again.

According to the schedule Mr. Stark had made for him, he doesn’t need to show up today. Of course, he knows he’s not going to stay home at all. He needs to know if everything is alright; did they do the right thing there, yesterday?

Peter starts to walk towards the subway, but that’s when he notices it; the motorcycle. He’s ridden on it before, recognizing the reinforced tires on the wheels. Peter walks towards it, searching for its driver but not seeing him at all.

“Ah, Peter!” it comes from far away, but when Peter focuses on the source, he can see Steve running up to him, a cap on his head and wearing a hoodie that doesn’t even fit him at all. “I’ve been searching for you!”

“Everything alright?” Peter asks, a bit concerned as to why Steve would drive all the way here. The man just nods and lets out a small chuckle.

“He’s awake, just his typical self, I would say. A bit annoyed that a teenager managed to hack FRIDAY somehow, of course,” Steve says with a laugh, but Peter sees that it doesn’t reach his eyes. Steve looks exhausted, to say the least.

“Can I see him?” Peter asks, knowing that he’s sounding extremely hopeful here. Steve gives him a long look before nodding.

“If you want to, but you got to take this,” he says, taking out a helmet for his motorcycle. Peter takes it without complaining, putting it on and securing it on his head. Then he follows Steve onto the vehicle, listening to the instructions the man is giving him even though Peter remembers them from the last time.

With his hands grabbing hold of Steve’s jacket, and his head pressed against Steve’s back, the two drive away, towards the facility.

Peter watches everything pass him by in a blur. Steve respects the road-laws – of course he does – and never drives faster than allowed. He stops at every red sign, and always warns Peter whenever they’re riding on something bumpy. The drive itself takes around fifteen minutes.

He knows they’re nearing the compound when he sees the trees around him again. In his head, Peter starts to think of possible scenarios that could happen here; would Mr. Stark be happy to see him? Would he start crying ant apologize? He might as well start shouting at him for even being here, for using override-codes on FRIDAY. Codes he doesn’t even know Peter has.

Steve guides him inside, but by now Peter knows his way around. Especially de medical-wing. As he sees Dr. Cho pass him by, he looks away despite the fact that she won’t even recognize him. There are even more doctors and nurses in here, as if the compound has its own hospital-wing –which Peter wouldn’t too surprised about, of course. They’re talking about Mr. Stark, after all.

Steve opens up a door for him, nodding inside as a gesture for Peter to move forward. Peter hesitates only a little bit before clearing his throat and getting in.

There’s only one bed in here, so it’s not too difficult to spot Mr. Stark. He’s already sitting up, an IV still attached to his arm but otherwise nothing else medical-wise connected to him. He’s pale, and a bit sweaty, but there’s a smile on his face as he’s swinging around a spoon full of what seems like pudding.

Next to him sits Vision, who is listening to whatever story Mr. Stark is telling him. He seems actually interested in it, and Peter can’t help but smile a little bit about that. Behind him, Steve clears his throat, catching their attention. Then Vision stands up, passing his hand over his dark blue shirt before getting back to the door.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” he says, and he follows Steve out of the room, closing the door behind him and thus leaving Peter alone with Mr. Stark.

The smile he had on his face while talking to Vision is now gone, but much to Peter’s relief he doesn’t seem angry at all. He nods towards the seat next to his bed, and pushes his table aside. Peter can see that the little pot of pudding is already empty.

“Uh, hi Mr. Stark,” Peter says, waving his hand awkwardly at him while shuffling a bit closer.

“Mr. Parker,” Mr. Stark nods calmly. Peter reaches the chair and carefully sits down, eyes never leaving the man in front of him. What’s going to happen now? Is he going to get it? Or is Mr. Stark going to spare him?

“I’m almost finished with the arc reactor, sir,” Peter suddenly blurts out nervously. Mr. Stark’s eyebrow goes up in surprise, and there’s a light smirk on his lips. Peter feels his face redden immediately. “I mean, I’m still missing the specific element; FRIDAY told me that only you are in possession of it so I thought I’d ask you-“

“Parker, take a breath,” Mr. Stark suddenly says in a chuckle, holding up his hand in a stop-gesture. Peter then closes his mouth and listens to him. “Do you have it here?”

Peter nods, thinking back of how he put it in his bag yesterday. He didn’t take it out after that, too distracted to even do that. Then he picks up his bag from the ground, opens it up, and carefully takes out the box where he keeps the reactor. Mr. Stark looks at him silently as he works.

“Show me,” he says as soon as Peter opens the box, and then the teenager hands it to him, allowing Mr. Stark to finally look at the thing that according to everybody is impossible to make unless you’re a Stark or a Vanko. Luckily, Peter fits that description, even though nobody knows it.

Mr. Stark seems impressed as he looks at the base of the reactor. So far, it’s not working because of the missing ‘badassium’, but Peter is sure that even like this Mr. Stark can figure out if it’s good or not.

“Looks alright to me,” Mr. Stark then says, sounding full of disbelief. “CAAAAAAP!”

Peter startles when he suddenly starts shouting after Steve. The door immediately opens again, showing Steve with a worried face as he tries to figure out what’s wrong. Tony gestures for him to come closer.

“Cap, back at my workshop there’s a safe in the left-side of the room – FRIDAY will open it for you. Can you then take one of the blue boxes you can find inside, along with a pincer?”

Steve frowns at him, but then sighs and nods, leaving the room again. Tony puts the arc reactor down and seems to look everywhere but at Peter. The teenager wants to ask how he’s doing, if he’s already doing better, but Peter knows it won’t be that easy.

Mr. Stark might behave like there’s nothing wrong right now, but Peter saw him yesterday. Even if it was the alcohol mostly talking for him, whatever he spoke about must be something that is bothering him to this day.

“You’ve got something on your mind, kid?” Mr. Stark suddenly asks, startling Peter and breaking him out of his train of thought. He wants to deny it, to say that he’s alright, but he knows he would be lying. Is it now that he should tell him? Is it the right time to admit it?

Maybe not, he figures. If anything, Peter is afraid that he’ll make it worse, instead. Better to keep it quiet.

“I’m just glad you’re alright,” Peter answers truthfully. He can’t lose his father before the man even knows they’re related. And he would rather not lose him afterwards, either.

“Well, ‘alright’ is not exactly the word I’d use, Peter,” Mr. Stark says, and Peter feels something warm inside of him at the mention of his name. “But I get what you mean. I’m… glad, too.”

Peter stays quiet after that, looking down at his hands as he waits for Cap to return. His fingers are tangled together, and his lips pressed into a thin line while his foot shakes up and down.

“Listen, Peter, I’m sorry that you had so see me like that,” Mr. Stark suddenly starts surprising Peter once again. He’d never think that the man was capable of apologizing to anybody, ever. “I’ve never been called professional before, but this has been an all new low for me. Drunk me is obviously an ass.”

Then Mr. Stark sighs and looks back up, eyes meeting Peter’s.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he then says. “I’m still working on that new suit. How about you help me out with it? That way it’ll get finished sooner, and you can give it your input as well.”

Excitement is not an emotion Peter would have expected to feel today, but as it is, he can’t help but express it. His lips curl up in a wide smile, his heart beats faster, and his hands suddenly grab on to the bed next to him as he jumps up in his seat.

“Yes! A thousand times yes, Mr. Stark!” He almost cries out. Then he realizes he’s being a bit too loud here, and he pulls back a little bit. “I mean, I would love to assist you in building it.”

“No, not assist,” Mr. Stark says, shaking his head. “Teamwork.” Then the man winks at him, and Peter laughs. Before either can say anything more, the door opens and Steve walks back inside, holding a blue box in his hand that looks about the size of Peter’s fist.

This must be the ‘badassium’, Peter figures. He watches as Steve puts it down on Mr. Stark’s bed, who opens the box and takes the pincer into his hand. Then he nods towards Peter.

“Open up that reactor of yours, huh?” he asks, and Peter jumps in action, taking the Arc Reactor back from where Mr. Stark dropped it, and then fumbles with it a little bit until it’s open. Instead of taking it over from Peter, Mr. Stark just directs the glowing blue triangle towards the open latch inside the reactor. Peter looks at it with a mouth fallen open, aware that Steve is still standing there and observing as well.

“Here, you should do the honors,” Mr. Stark suddenly says, handing the pincer to Peter.

“Really?” Peter asks, but he still takes it from him. Then, with all the gentleness he can manage, he slowly lowers the glowing triangle down until it’s put inside safely. When Peter then closes the reactor once again, it suddenly starts to glow.

Shit, it’s going to blow! Peter messed it up!

“Close your eyes, it’s going to get bright for a few seconds,” Mr. Stark warns him, and Peter listens, putting his free hand over his eyes and shielding them from the bright blue glow that surrounds them shortly. Once it’s gone, he opens his eyes again, taking a good look around them.

Well, nobody is dead, which is good.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Steve suddenly says. Peter startles, never really having heard the man swear before – if you can call that swearing, of course.

In Peter’s hand, tere’s a glowing blue Arc Reactor, working just like it’s supposed to.

“This is going to be interesting,” Mr. Stark says, impressed. Peter can only agree.

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