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It was halfway through the day when FRIDAY’s voice halted the meeting Tony Stark was in the middle of, and his heart immediately sank. There were only a few reasons he allowed to be interrupted. None of them were good.
“Mr. Stark? You have a phone call.”
He paused and glanced around the room at the irritated faces staring at him before responding, “Who is it?”
“Midtown School of Science and Technology.”
Tony’s heart rate quickened at that.
After defeating Thanos and bringing back the ones that turned to ash, there was an almost giddy energy as everyone reunited. One by one they came back as Tony watched passively, keeping an eye out for his frustratingly heroic kid.
When Tony finally spotted Peter, he didn’t hesitate to rush forward towards him, but something wasn’t right. Peter was trembling and had a blank look on his face. An alarming contrast to the others.
“Kid?” Tony asked as he walked up to him before putting his hands on his shoulders, trying to lock eyes with the boy. “Pete? Peter, talk to me.” His voice had grown slightly frantic by the end, but he couldn’t help it.
The tone in his voice must’ve been enough to knock Peter out of his stupor because he looked at him only a few seconds later, his blank face transforming into one of pain.
“I…” he started, but his voice faltered. “I felt everything.” And that was all it took. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands as his sobs echoed throughout the area.
Tony immediately dropped down next to him and put a hand to the back of Peter’s neck, letting the kid cry into his shoulder. “I felt it- I- I died-” Another wave of tears cut him off, and Tony just held on to dear life to the kid who didn’t deserve what he’d gotten, the kid he needed to protect.
Almost as soon as they got home, Tony put himself as Peter’s emergency contact for anything and everything he could think of. If the kid needed him, he’d be dead before he didn’t help. He would never let anything hurt Peter Parker again.
So when Tony said, “Put them through, FRI,” as he was already headed down to his car, he had fully prepared for the worst. Peter hadn’t gone to school today and was missing, or maybe he got crushed under a bookshelf, or- shit did schools these days have bookshelves or was everything digital? The hell if Tony knew, but he did know that if there was something to get crushed under, Peter would find a way to do it.
“Um, Mr. Stark? Tony Stark?” a skeptical voice sounded in his ear. Tony caught a frantic note beneath the doubt.
He jumped in his car as quickly as he could. “Yes, that’s me. What happened with Peter? Is he okay? Is he there?” Tony asked before speeding towards the school.
There was a brief pause before the voice rushed out, “Oh wow, I’m sorry to bother you Mr. Stark, but Peter’s aunt isn’t picking up the phone and you’re listed as an emergency contact so I figured I’d try but-”
“The kid,” he said sharply. “What happened to the kid?”
“Yes, of course. Mr. Parker seems to be having some kind of panic attack, and we aren’t sure what to do. He’s in one of the corners in the classroom and he doesn’t seem to register any voices. One of our nurses tried to take him to the nurses office, but any touch freaked him out more, and he’s a lot stronger than he looks-”
“Do not touch him,” Tony bit out. He didn’t know why he hadn’t considered this one of the reasons he was called, but his heart rate didn’t slow down. In fact, it might’ve actually sped up a bit knowing his kid was too terrified to move right now. “Just don’t touch him. I’ll be there in two minutes. Which classroom is he in?”
“He- he’s in 112.” The woman’s voice tilted towards the end, saying it almost as a question.
“Be there soon,” he said before disconnecting the call.
The two minutes to the school felt like the longest of his life, but he eventually made it. He barely threw his car into park before running into the school, straight for classroom 112.
When he arrived, the flood of students standing in the doorway parted as he walked through the door, ignoring the gaping looks while his eyes searched for Peter.
Tony quickly spotted him in the corner with his face buried in his knees. As he got closer, he heard him muttering to himself, “Please, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. Please.”
“What the hell happened?” Tony demanded. He knew Peter sometimes had minor panic attacks, but he hadn’t been like this since his first night back. “Well?” he asked again, trying and failing to keep the growing panic out of his voice, as he halfway turned towards the students behind him.
“Uh- well, we don’t really know. We were just heating up some stuff on our bunsen burner-”
“Tell the truth, Flash,” an angry looking girl said venomously and the boy, Flash’s, face fell.
“Shut up, Michelle.” After Tony almost made a move towards the boy, he immediately sputtered, “Okay! I guess I burned some paper and threw it at Parker! I thought it’d be funny for him to walked around with ashes all over his clothes! But that’s not why he’s like- like that right?” Tony’s only reply was a look so vicious that Flash stepped backwards.
Stupid kids. Didn’t know what they were messing with, who they were messing. They wouldn’t know how to deal with a tenth of what Peter had.
Peter, who was still in the corner. Peter, who needed him right now.
“Hey, Pete? I’m going to come closer to you, okay? I won’t touch you, it’s alright,” Tony said as softly as he could manage while remembering the things Peter told him about his smaller panic attacks. “You’re going to be okay, kid. I promise. You’re safe. Everything’s okay.” He continued on like that for a few minutes until Peter stopped muttering to himself and just barely lifted his eyes to meet Tony’s.
“Mr. Stark?” he croaked, his throat raw.
“Yeah, kid, I’m right here. Can I come closer?”
Peter nodded. “I- I don’t know what- I don’t want to go, please, Mr. Stark-”
Tony immediately got closer to the boy who was growing frantic again.
“Hey, you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here with me. Right where you belong. Okay? Pete, I need you to look at me.” Peter raised his head fully and sucked in a shaky breath. “There you go. Can I touch you?” he asked, needing to know if he could hug the kid.
Tony didn’t hesitate wrap his arm around Peter when he nodded again, and he was brought right back to those first painful moments when Peter got back.
Peter cried into his shoulder for a minute before starting to talk. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. You’re probably so busy and I should’ve had this under control, it was just- it was the ash, Mr. Stark. I felt it in my throat, and I thought it was like before-”
“Hey, you don’t need to explain anything to me. You needed me, and I’m here. It’s that simple. It’s always going to be that simple. Got it?”
Peter nodded and sniffled. “Yeah. Thank you,” he sounded so genuinely touched that Tony felt his throat tighten up slightly, but before he could respond, he saw Peter’s eyes shift behind him and his face redden as he lowered his head.
“Hey,” Tony snapped when he turned around and saw the kids staring unabashedly. “This isn’t cable TV. Go home and watch your recordings of Wonderpets if you’re that desperate for entertainment. Or better yet, go to your next class. Just get the hell out of here.”
Everyone immediately scrambled off except for the girl Tony remembered as Michelle. She inched closer with crossed arms and stared at Peter.
“Are you okay, Parker?” Tony could tell she was trying to remain indifferent, but the hitch in her voice gave her away.
Peter gave her an almost imperceptible smile and said, “I think I will be.”
Michelle dropped his gaze and let out a slightly stuttered breath. “I’ll tell Ned you’re leaving for the day.” She turned to Tony and said, “Take care of him, or else I’ll find you. I don’t care how much protection you think you have.” And with that, she stormed out of the classroom.
“Well,” Tony said, letting a dry chuckle escape his throat. “She’s charming.” Peter didn’t respond, but he had a fond look on his face. That is, he had a fond look on his face underneath the exhaustion. “Come on, kid. Let’s go home.” Peter tensed up a little. “What is it?”
“Nothing! I just- Aunt May isn’t home and I don’t- I mean, I can be alone, it’s fine, I just don’t-”
“No, kid, you’re coming home. Home with me, to the Stark Tower. You have a room there, remember? I’m not leaving you alone. I promise.”
Peter let out a sigh and sagged, so Tony wrapped his arm around him again, letting him sink into the man’s chest. “Thank you, Tony,” he said tiredly, and Tony grinned at hearing his name. The kid had always been hellbent on calling him Mr. Stark despite his protests.
He ran a hand through Peter’s hair and said, “Come on, Pete. You need rest. Let’s go home.”