If They Knew All About You

Late Night Talk

What was he even doing here? It was stupid. And creepy. And also stupid. And there'd be hell to pay if May figured out that he was gone. It was unlikely that Mr. Stark would be thrilled that he had gone out in the dark climbing buildings either. And all that without a suit. He just had to risk it though. Had to try. Mr. Stark needed to stay. Peter needed him to stay. He couldn't just let him leave, not without putting up at least some resistance. But how was he going to do that? What could he even say? Peter had no idea. He had to trust that the magic combination of words would just come to him, when he would see the man. He had climbed all the way up to the floor of the penthouse. The lights in the living room were dimmed almost all the way down and he couldn't see anyone. The lights on the balcony itself were turned off all the way. Maybe... what if he was too late?

"Hey, FRIDAY... is... erm... Is Mr. Stark around?"

"Hello, Peter. Boss is on the premises but I have been given orders that he is not to be disturbed until tomorrow morning."

"Oh..." Mr. Stark had left with Miss Potts. With his... girlfriend? And here Peter was sneaking around on their balcony... "Oh god, yeah... just... just don't... Don't tell him I'm here."

He turned his back and walked out onto the landing platform. This had been a ridiculous idea. He shouldn't have even come here. Mr. Stark had already made his choice and he'd been very clear about it. How was he ever even convince the man to change his mind?

"FRIDAY, is it... is it okay if I just sit out here? Not for long, I... I don't want to mess with your security protocols or anything, I... I'll leave in a bit, I just... can I just sit here, for a couple of minutes?"

He waited for her to answer but she stayed quiet. Maybe her sensors didn't work all the way out on the platfo—

"You are welcome to stay, Peter."

"Thanks, FRI." Alright then. He turned back around and let his eyes wander over Manhattan. He took off his makeshift mask as he sat down. Well, mask... a beanie covering his head and a bandana wrapped around his face. Just a quick fix since he'd never gotten his suit back. He wouldn't now. Not with Mr. Stark leaving. That too, he had made perfectly clear.

The platform was situated on the same side of the building as Mr. Stark's personal lab. Just one floor below he had sat, worked and chatted with the man for months, had looked out at the exact same panorama. He pulled up his legs and rested his chin on his knees. Manhattan's lights were bright and many people would kill to get the chance to experience the view in front of Peter, but he had no mind for it. It was only an out-of-focus collection of lights to him while his mind pulled up other images like the memories of all these months that he had just come and gone to the Tower's lab, the late-night workshop hours. Even more than that his mind drifted to these videos he had been watching on Mr. Stark's server. His weird obsession with these moments that had been so personal. All this time he had thought it was his own loss that had drawn his sick mind to watch more and more of them. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe there had been something in his subconscious that had made him feel like he belonged when he had watched all that. Some deeply rooted remnant imprint on his soul, that had remained unimpressed that he went by a different name now. That didn't care who he thought his parents were, only cared about who he really was, his real parents, his... his real name.

None of it made any sense to him. How could any of this be real? Did his parents... his actual par— Richard and Mary. Had they known about this?

His hands shot up and covered his face. What was he gonna do? He couldn't even think straight. He had none of the answers to any of these questions. The biggest one being, that if all of this was true... If he really was who Mr. Stark believed him to be... If he really was Mr. Stark's... Mr. Stark's son. If Mr. Stark really was his... his real dad.... why didn't he want him? Why wasn't he fighting for him? Mr. Stark was Iron Man. He could take on anyone he wanted. They'd... they'd become a team, hadn't they? Had all of that just been in his head? Or did none of that matter in contrast to the mistakes Peter had made? Maybe Mr. Stark would simply never forgive him for going behind his back. For lying to him. Did he even want to know the answer to that?