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Peter remembered that day vividly. It had started out just like any other had. He’d woken up late, rushed to pack his bags, and barely made it to school on time- He hadn’t had the chance to see May, he had barely even recognised her existence when she’d called his name that morning, shouting a quick ‘Be safe, Pete, i Lub you!’ after him as he’d left their small apartment in a blind rush.
Gods did he wish he had stopped to reply, to take the chance to tell her he loved her. To give her a hug, to savour a moment he’d never get again.
Why couldn't she follow her own advice?
It was midway through the second period that he received the news. Principle Morticia had knocked on the door of his AP engineering class, with a few police officers and the school counsellor behind him- each with a look more remorseful then the last. Those looks alone had his spider-senses tingling. They’d escorted him to the office, sat him down and handed him a cup of tea. The silence of the office had been heavy, none of the adults in the room wanted to speak first, so Peter did. Asked why they’d pulled him out of class, what was the matter with everyone? Had he done something wrong, broken the law maybe?
“I’m sorry, Peter, your Aunt May, she… was involved in a car accident earlier this morning. She was pronounced dead on arrival. We are so sorry for your loss, if there's…”
Peter had stopped listening at that point, everything seemed to have stopped. His heart, was it beating? He remembered thinking about that, and coming to the conclusion that no, his heart was beating. It was just shattered. It just didn't seem real at the time, there was no way his aunt had died- there was just no way. She had been alive and well when he had left for school that morning, so why?
Why?
Why?
That had been three months ago. Things had been hard, especially after the funeral. It all just seemed to hit home then. May was dead, and she wasn't coming back. He’d officially lost everyone. His parents, Uncle Ben, Aunt May..
Being seventeen, the government had decided that he was old enough to look after himself, no point putting him in the system if he was only going to age out of it in a year or two anyway. So, he stayed at his apartment- though, he was rarely ever home [How could it be, without May there?], bills upon bills mounting up in a pile on the table. Peter didn’t even know where to start with them, they’d already been in debt before May.. there was no way he was going to be able to pay it all off on his own.
A job is what he needed. No need to bother anyone else with his troubles, this was his burden to bear, his duty. It felt shameful to ask people for financial help, even if he had people like Tony Stark in his contact list. That man had already done enough for him, he’d given him an internship, a new suit, all access to all the materials he could need to be a better inventor, superhero, person.. But asking him for money? That was a new low that he wasn't willing to admit he'd hit. So he just didn’t, hell, he didn’t even tell him that his Aunt had died.
The job didn't work out as planned. Between school and spider-manning, he had barely any time at all to work. He’d already dropped his internship, gave Tony some BS excuse that he had important school work to catch up on. His job had fired him within the first two weeks, leaving him with barely enough money for groceries, let alone any bills.
Last month, He’d been evicted from the apartment. The landlord, though sympathetic with Peter's situation, could no longer afford to let rent go. May had already been behind before she passed, and Peter hadn’t managed to give him a penny since. It was a major kick in the teeth. If he hadn’t already felt like a failure, he certainly would have now. For two days, he had skipped school to pack up all his and May's things, having them shipped off to a storage unit until he was able to collect them again. And on the third, Peter left the apartment for the final time with his rucksack of clothes and essentials, and set about finding a new place to live.
Turns out, that hadn’t been easy to do either. Could he have gone to his friends and told them about his situation, and face the utter embarrassment of being unable to cope without his Aunt in his life? Yeah… did he? No. No, he didn’t. Peter was supposed to be a superhero, strong, unwavering, and always got back up.
How was he supposed to be a hero if he couldn’t even save himself? He didn’t think he could even face anyone.
The solution to his housing situation came in the form on a rooftop, high above the city of New York on a skyscraper, with a webbed hammock hanging between the walls of a utility shed and a door with a broken lock. Not that it had bothered him, no one would be able to reach him up here anyway. Aside from maintenance, but from the looks of it, they hadn't been up here in a very long time.
—---
Since becoming homeless, Peter's routine had changed a lot. School was no longer his top priority, he didn’t care anymore. He was smart enough without it, the classes were already too easy for him. Surviving was the only thing he cared about, and spider-manning. Who was he, if he wasn’t spider-man? Catching bad guys was the only thing to take his mind off of everything, it made it easier. Not thinking, just swinging about the city. He got careless, throwing himself into fight after fight, showing up to school maybe once or twice a week when he needed to heal from a particularly bad injury. Ned, bless his soul, was worried sick. Constantly spamming him with messages when he didn’t show at school, pestering him with questions when he finally did show. He ignored it all, insisting that he was fine and there was nothing to worry about. Peter felt guilty about it all, of course he did, and Ned was his best friend and he couldn’t even tell him anything..
As for Tony… He had messaged a few times since he dropped the internship- asked how school was going, if he was okay, when he was coming back.. Those messages were few and far between, Tony was a busy man, after all. Peter hadn’t responded to any of his messages, and eventually they just stopped coming. Peter was thankful.
It was late Friday afternoon that he had gotten another one. Peter was on patrol, Karen whispering advice in his ear about the local police efforts. Nothing was happening right now, at least nothing dangerous enough to get Peter's attention, when the call came through.
“Peter, Incoming call from Tony Stark. Would you like to answer it?” Karen asked.
“Hang up, Karen” Peter told the AI, sitting down on the ledge he had been crouched on previously. He didn’t want to talk to him, or anyone for that matter. It would just make it harder to deny the urge to ask for help. To cry, scream, beg for someone to make his life easier, to take all his pain away.
“I’m sorry, Peter, my coding is being overwritten. Baby Monitor has been re-established…”
Peter cursed, frantically calling for Karen to override it. “Fuck! No, Karen, override code ‘i’m a strong independent spider and don’t need no ironman’”
“Code denied. Baby Monitor Protocol has been activated. Answering call… connecting… connected.”
“Trying to lock me out of the suit I created huh? Nice try, Bambino” Tony’s amused voice rang through the suit, Peter couldn’t place it but there was something else in his voice, too. Concern, maybe. It would make sense.
“What do you want, Mr. Stark? I’m on patrol right now, can this wait?” Peter asked, crossing his fingers that he’d just hang up and gibe peter time to hack the suit and cancel the stupid protocal. He wasn’t ready to talk to him yet, he needed more time, more time to prove that he was capable of doing everything himself, of saving himself..
“No can-do, kid. I need you at the tower, ASAP. We need to talk.” Tony shut that down quickly, Peter thought. A frown formed on his face, had he found out? Or was he going to yell at him for something he’d done wrong? .. What if he asked for the suit back?
“.. Why? Is it a mission?” Peter asked, trying to hide his ever-growing worry.
“.. you could say that. I’ll explain everything when you get here. You have ten minutes before I shut the suit down and make you walk” And with that, Tony hung up and Peter was left both worried and confused on the ledge of a skyscraper.
—---
Peter made it to the sight of his impending doom in record time, landing on the Towers landing pad with seconds to spare, where Tony was standing waiting for him, an indecipherable look on his face.
“Welcome back, Kid. Take the suit off and let's go inside,” Tony said as he turned and walked off through the door. Peter obliged, tapping his watch allowing the nanotech suit to disappear to reveal his dirty, barely-passable jeans and t-shirt [it was hard to do laundry when you had no money], and followed him inside.
Tony led him to the lounge of his penthouse, where he took a seat on the grey cotton couch. There was a series of drinks and snacks on the table, ranging from soda and tea, to cakes and pizza rolls. The teen had no idea why Tony would even bother preparing drinks and snacks if this was a mission briefing, or to take the suit away.
Peter sat opposite him on a matching chair, hands in his lap and twiddling his thumbs. Neither spoke for the first few minutes, Tony making himself a cup of coffee while Peter just watched. His stomach growled, but he didn’t let himself take any of the food. Not before he knew what this was about.
“So… what's this about? Do you need Spider-man for a mission?” Peter broke the silence, trying to keep the nerves out of his voice, spectacularly failing in doing so.
Tony paused mid sip, glancing at Peter, sighing, then putting the cup back on the coffee table. “No, Pete. No mission. I’ve been getting a few worrying messages from your friend.. What was his name again? Ted?”
Oh. Oh no, this was not happening.
Peter gulped, looking away from his old mentor. “Ned? What did he want, is he okay?” Peter asked, feigning innocence. Now he knew what this was about, Ned had ratted him out. It was only a matter of time, he supposed. Ned was never any good at keeping his mouth shut, though Peter couldn’t blame him. This was his own fault, He’d bought this on himself.
“Right, Ned. He’s fine, by the way, if you call being worried sick about his best friend ‘fine’” Tony replied, with only a hint of his usual sarcasm. Now, that was worrying. Tony carried on, now looking at Peter with the most worry and concern he’d seen on anyone since the school had told him about May’s passing. “Pete, he said you haven’t been going to school. You’ve been throwing yourself into spider-man, you and your aunt have apparently moved away to who-knows-where..” Peter tried not to flinch at the mention of his aunt or their apartment that he’d gotten kicked out of. “He’s worried. We both are. Is there something going on, are you or May in trouble?”
Peter remained silent, He’d shoved all his feelings down into a box, and now that fragile lock he’d put on it was threatening to break, all because someone he cared about was asking all the right questions. He realised, then, that he hadn’t even stopped to mourn. Being too focused on surviving, on pretending that everything was okay, Peter hadn’t even shed a tear. He’d been numb. He wanted to scream, Yes he was in trouble. He couldn’t do it anymore, it was too much, but he couldn’t form the right words. He wasn’t even sure he could.
“Pete?” Tony’s voice drew him out of his thoughts, and he dimly noted he hadn't responded yet. “You know you can tell me anything, right? If you’re in trouble, It doesn’t matter what it is, I'll help anyway I can.” The man assured, a worried but reassuring frown on his face.
Peter looked at him through blurry eyes, “She’s dead” The words didn’t even sound like his own, forign on his tongue. It was the first time he’d admitted it outloud, He hadn’t even acknowledged it at the funeral. It had been a quiet affair, a cremation paid for by the government. He had been the only one to attend, so he didn’t even write a eulogy.
“.. What?” Tony asked, eyes going wide when he pieced together who he had meant,
“May. She died. Three months ago. Car crash. Got evicted two months later because of debt” It was like he was reading it off a script, voice quiet and closed off, like saying it any louder would make it more real. There were a few long seconds of nothing, just heavy silence filled by the buzzing of Tony’s arc reactor. Peter worried he had said too much, that Tony was going to brush it off and tell him that's no excuse for failure. And then there were arms around him, and Peter was being pulled into a tight hug, his head resting against his old mentor's chest. His face was wet- when had he started crying?- and his body was shaking. He returned the hug in full, wrapping his arms around Tony’s chest and clutching at the back of his suit jacket. He spilled everything, then. Everything that had happened since May died, from dropping his internship to getting evicted, his reasons for not telling anyone, and how hard it had been. He spared no detail, needing to get the crushing weight off his chest before it killed him. Tony just happened to be the one that made him break.
“Oh, Pete.. I’m so sorry, if I had known..” Tony consoled, sentence trailing off into silence in favour of running his fingers through the sobbing teens hair. If he had known, he would have done everything he could have done to help. That debt? Wiped. The funeral, all expenses paid. Nothing would have stopped him from stepping in and trying to fill that missing void May has undoubtedly left for the boy.
Peter doesn’t know how long he cried into Tony’s chest, by the time he’s finally able to stop enough to talk, they had somehow moved to sit on the couch. Tony leaning back against it with Peter leaning heavily on his chest. It felt good to get it all out, to cry his heart out without fear of judgement. To just be the teen that had lost his only lifeline to life without having to put up a facade of ‘i’m fine’.
“M’sorry for crying like that,” Peter mumbled as he pulled back, wiping his face with his sleeve, “I ruined your suit..” he noted, staring at the massive wet patch that had formed on tony’s shirt. The man simply brushed it off with a wave of his hand.
“Stop. No apologies. Jesus christ, Pete, you deserve to cry after everything you’ve been through recently. I just wish you had of come to me sooner” Tony said softly, he felt guilty for not being more forceful with his check ins, for not checking in more often. He should have tried harder, been there for him. Peter was like a son to him, and he hated that he had to go through that alone.
“I know, I should have done a lot of things differently.. I just.. Didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be a burden..” Peter admitted, feeling defeated by the admission. His eyes were red and puffy, he was sure he looked a mess. Tony didn't seem to care, though. The man reached over to wipe the remaining tears away from Peter's eyes with his sleeve.
“Pete, you’ll never be a burden, not to me. Not to anyone. You’re the strongest person I know, and also one of the smartest. But just because you’re strong, doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help. It doesn't make you any less of a person, trust me, i learnt that the hard way,” Tony gave a small smile, “I’ll always be here for you, whatever you need, okay?”
Peter returned the smile, he finally felt as if he could breathe again. That weight that had been sitting unbearably heavy on his chest had shifted, freeing him from the suffocation that accompanied it. New tears threatened to spill, this time from the relief of knowing that he was going to be okay, that his struggles were over.
“Okay? Good. Come on, I have something I want to show you,” Tony stood up, knees clicking as he did so. He waited for Peter to get up, too, before he started leading him further into the penthouse. They walked down the corridor in a comfortable silence, coming to a stop outside a door.
Peter looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow when the man gestured for him to go inside, putting his hand on the scanner. The door beeps before sliding open to reveal a large bedroom.
Across the far wall was a bed with Ironman covers and pillows, at the end was a floor to ceiling double-sided bookshelf, filled with books and trinkets. An open doorway next to it, showing a walk-in closet filled with clothes. A bedside table with a lamp and picture frame was next to the bed, and upon closer inspection, Peter's heart swelled. It was of him and May at their favourite shawarma place- they’d had the owner take that picture.
On the other side of the room was a door, leading to a bathroom. On the side closest to him was a desk computer, along with more bookshelves, looking like a mini office.
“What.. is all this?” Peter stood in the middle of the room, looking at Tony with wide, disbelieving eyes. This looked like a bedroom. For Him.
“A bedroom. For you. We decided to make you a room at the tower in case you ever need it. It was originally May's idea, I just.. Never got around to telling you about it, I added the finishing details to it Yesterday, After Ted’s messages.” Tony explained, leaning on the doorframe with a smile.
“Mr. Stark, this is… this is too much, I can't accept this-” Peter started to protest, as nice as it would be to have a room- a home- here, he couldn’t just expect Tony to just house him for free.
“AH, Ah, Ah. No buts. This is your room, I expect you to use it instead of a shed on a skyscraper somewhere,” Tony interjected, using his no-nonsense voice that left little room for arguments.
“I don’t have any money, i can’t pay you for it, i refuse to just live here for free Mr. Stark.” Tony sighed at that, massaging his temples with his fingers.
“Teenagers…” Peter heard him mutter, “Alright, if that's really how you feel, you can pay for it using your internship.” Tony grinned, as if he’d just won some sort of game, but all it did was leave Peter confused.
“My internship? But I don't have one anymore, I quit,” Peter reminded, folding his arms across his chest.
“Yeah, I think I'll decide who and who doesn't have an internship with me, thanks. Besides, the other interns have really missed having you around the Labs. I swear, if I get asked where you are one more time, I'm going to fire them on the spot” Tony laughed, standing up straight and brushing off his suit. “But enough of that, we’ll sort everything out tomorrow. For now, get yourself cleaned up, I’m ordering take out”
—--
After Tony left, Peter did exactly what he said. He showered and changed into clean clothes, then spent a good twenty minutes just sitting on his new bed taking in the sight. It didn’t feel real, but in a good way. He wasn’t homeless anymore, He had a home and someone that cared for him. It was odd how things could change so drastically in the space of a day.
Peter had learnt not to take anything or anyone for granted, He wasn’t going to mess this up.
He was going to make both Tony and Aunt May proud.