Pain Will Always Come Back to Haunt You

Baby Steps

When he walks into the elevator, F.R.I.D.A.Y. selects the workshop floor for him and he heads down. The lower he gets, the more he can hear the distinct voices of Tony and Bruce through the walls. As the elevator doors open, Peter's face pales. The hologram in the middle of the workshop is displaying the aftermath of the warehouse that Toomes purposefully collapsed on him. It's a massive pile of broken concrete and bent rebar. Peter quickly realizes that it isn't a still image, but footage from that night. Dust slowly rises from the rubble and he can see a small gap near the center that he knows for a fact he had to crawl out of.

"...and we know Toomes wasn't the one making the tech. Someone else must've made the wings, which is considerably concerning since we only have Toomes in custody-"

"Mr. Stark, what's going on?" Peter questions through a shaky breath, interrupting Bruce's deducing. Tony immediately snaps his head around to look at the teenager, who's on the verge of panic. Peter's eyes are glued to the hologram. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter can see Bruce quickly press a few buttons that cause the video to disappear.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., I thought I told you to tell me when the kid was awake," Tony mutters angrily before walking up to Peter to obscure his view. "Nothing, we were just comparing some notes. Nothing for you to worry about," he assures. Peter instantly moves past him to get a better look at Bruce and the now lack of a hologram.

"Good afternoon, Peter. I'm glad to finally meet you." Bruce walks up to him, trying to diffuse the tension, and extends his hand. Peter cautiously takes it. Even though Peter's inner nerd is screaming at him right now, he can't help but feel on edge after seeing the hologram.

"It's great to meet you, Dr. Banner." Bruce is in a typical dress shirt and jeans, which are probably his more casual clothes. Then, Peter becomes fully aware that he's still in the gym sweats he had to sleep in. Great, so much for a good first impression.

"You too, but you can call me Bruce." Bruce releases Peter's hand and nervously rubs his own together. "About the, uh, recording, I just needed to determine the best approach and understand what exactly happened that night." Peter slowly nods in understanding.

"A little heads up would've been nice," he mumbles as he turns to look back at Tony.

"My thoughts exactly, F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Tony accuses pointedly.

"It's not my fault you weren't clear on your orders, Boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y. quips. Peter can't help but smile at her witty tone. All of Tony's AIs tend to bite back eventually. Tony ignores her backtalk and gives his attention back to the situation at hand.

"How you doin', kid? Sleep better? Eat breakfast?" He leans against a nearby table with arms crossed casually.

"Yeah, sleep was alright." Peter puts on the best smile he can muster, despite still feeling exhausted. "So, what's the plan? Quick checkup to make sure I'm in tip-top Spidey shape?" He chuckles to try to lighten the mood. Tony raises his eyebrows expectantly before asking again,

"Breakfast?" as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Technically it would be lunch," Bruce interjects. Tony then turns his pointed gaze on him. "Which doesn't make it any less important," Bruce quickly adds.

"You two need to work on your co-parenting skills. Or at least get the good cop bad cop thing down." Peter smirks at them amusedly, a hint of his Spider-Man wit coming out due to his anxiousness.

"No, this is serious time. No jokes," Tony points a reprimanding finger at him.

"Peter," Bruce jumps back in, "your metabolism works at such an accelerated rate that you can't afford to be missing any meals. We aren't sure how fast yet, but it could possibly rival that of Steve's." Tony visibly tenses at the mention Captain America's name. They must still be on bad terms. "In other words, you need to constantly eat in order to sustain the amount of exercise you do as Spider-Man." Peter's eyes widen in shock and he turns to Tony.