Peter was beginning to worry, it had been weeks and no word from Mr. Stark. He hadn't even seen Happy follow him around like he usually does, which was what really set off the red flags. Peter knew he should probably just go on with his week and continue his patrols, send his voicemails, and receive no response each time. But something in his gut told him that he needed to go see his mentor.
So maybe that was why he found himself in front of the tall building trying to figure out how to get in. It wasn't like Tony ever gave him any internship ID, so he'd have to hope Tony was nearby and notices him.
He sighed, mustering up the courage, then walked through the double glass doors. The woman at the desk sat typing away at her computer, barely raising her eyes to glance at him.
"Umm, hello..." Peter began, she didn't budge. "I'm here to see Mr. Stark..."
This is where she finally turned towards him and sighed, "Under what business?"
"For my- Umm, internship with him," his anxiety was spiking, he wanted to just turn around and pretend that nothing happened, but it was too late. Besides, he needed to make sure Mr. Stark was okay.
"Name?"
Here was where he had to gamble, would his name be in their system?
"Oh, it's Peter. Peter Parker."
She looked back at the screen and began typing, then looked over at him, "Yep, that's you alright. He's gonna be on the third floor, first door to your left. Take that elevator over there, just make sure to knock first before going in the room. Who knows what he's up to."
Peter was actually pretty surprised that she just let him go freely through the tower, but it worked out in his benefit so he didn't mind. He listened to her directions and walked into the elevator, pushing the big button with a three on it. He waited as the elevator slowly lifted him up, then walked out the door as soon as it opened. He walked to the left side, standing in front of the first door.
He didn't know if he wanted to see what was behind those doors, he wasn't even sure what to expect. For all Peter knew, Tony was dead. Or maybe he was with- no, Peter didn't want to imagine that.
He knocked, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want Tony to know it was him. He waited a moment, when finally he heard a response.
"It's unlocked."
Peter smiled at the sound of his mentor's voice and opened the door, staring into the mess. Tony himself was sitting at a desk, eyes staring right at Peter. He held a bottle of alcohol, Peter couldn't tell which kind and truthfully he didn't want to know. There were papers everywhere, blueprint sketched of suit designs. There were small gadgets, pieces of metal and random helmets that Tony probably made out of boredom. All in all, it was clear that Tony Stark wasn't okay.
"Peter?" Tony frowned, though he didn't move from his desk chair. Instead he set the bottle down and crossed his arms in an attempt to seem more authoritative. "What're you doing here?"
"I'm here to make sure you're alive," He didn't really know what else to say, seeing Tony in such a weak state was so... sad. Peter almost wanted to go and hug him, but he didn't think that it would help much. Tony was never all that touchy.
"Well, I'm alive. See you-"
"I can't just leave you like this," Peter couldn't help but remember how his Aunt May was after Uncle Ben died. She drank a lot, cried, yelled, then there were the quiet days. Peter wondered if Tony was grieving the avengers, the disappearance of his former friends. Peter didn't know the whole story over what happened, but he knew enough to know that Tony didn't have much left in terms of friends.
"You're Just a kid, I don't want you to ruin the best years of your life trying to help me," Tony sighed, relaxing his arms and letting them fall to his side.
"I'm Spider-Man, I think it's a little too late for that," Peter frowned, he considered stepping closer, but he didn't want to be too close. He wanted to give Tony some space. "Is this about the Avengers?"
"It isn't important."
"No, Mr. Stark," Peter furrowed his brows, "it is important. It's important enough to make you throw away your life and wallow in your sadness. Something is wrong and I wanna help."
Tony stared at the young boy for a moment, then released a hefty sigh. He stood up and left the room for a moment, Peter waited until he entered the room again wearing clean clothes.
"Wanna help me design a suit?" Tony asked, he leaned down and picked up a few of the blueprints, scanning them until he finally found what he was looking for. He held it out to Peter, a small smile on his face. "Just an idea, of course, but I figured I'd do some upgrades."
Peter stared at the paper, it was a modified version of the spider-suit. He smiled and nodded, deciding that it was better than letting Tony drink himself to death. Tony gestured for Peter to follow him, and so they walked through the tower until they found themselves in the basement.
"This whole room is soundproof, mainly because Pepper doesn't like hearing all of the drilling and other shit. If you ever get locked in here somehow, you have to ask Friday to call for me. Either that, or just call my phone."
Peter raised a brow, "Would you actually answer?"
Tony froze, but didn't say anything in response. He walked towards the side of the room where his tools sat.
"So, where do you keep the suits?"
Tony smiled at that, he grabbed a remote from the table beside him and hit one of the buttons. At the end of the room, the wall began to move upwards to reveal a lineup of suits. The first ever Iron Man suit was there, and Peter found it hard not to be hit with nostalgia. He'd been a kid when Iron Man made his debut, just a small child who had nothing special about him. As any kid would, Peter quickly idolized Iron Man.
"I'd build you one of these, but I doubt your hot aunt would appreciate me tearing up her apartment." Tony chuckled as he set the remote down and sat on one of the chairs. "So, how is life going for you?"
Peter frowned, "It's fine."
"Yeah? That's good. Make any new friends?"
"Not really. I mean, I met this one guy a few weeks ago and he was pretty nice. Not really a friend though."
"Oh? What's his name?"
Peter could tell that Mr. Stark was just trying to avoid the obvious subject that Peter wanted to bring up, but he knew he couldn't stall forever.
"Percy Jackson, I think. We met in an alleyway when I crash landed during my patrol."
"So he met Spider-man? Huh." Tony furrowed his brows and stared at Peter for a moment, "Percy Jackson? Name sounds familiar... just can't figure out where..."
"Huh?" Peter was a little bit confused, but Tony was drunk so it didn't really seem out of the ordinary.
Tony shook his head and pulled out his phone, he began typing rapidly before staring at the screen. "FRIDAY, project my screen."
Peter watched as whatever Tony had looked up was projected, "Why did you look up his name?"
"Because I've heard it before, and look." Tony pointed out the articles, "Now I know why."
Peter looked closer, then noticed the articles that said things like 'Twelve year old from Manhattan kidnapped and taken across the country, found alive and brought hone safely.' And 'Mother and son go missing, step-father says young Percy Jackson is to blame.'
"Oh," Peter stared at the images beside them, a younger version of the guy Peter had seen in that alleyway. "And why did you remember him from this?"
"It was all over the news for a while, couldn't avoid it." Tony yawned and told FRIDAY to stop projecting his screen, then turned off his phone and set it aside. "Anywho, it's getting late-"
"No, I'm not going anywhere until you stop moping around," Peter looked around the room and sighed at the sight of the mess that also plagued the basement. "How about we clean up the place?"
Tony didn't want to, but he knew the kid was just trying to help. So, he got up and nodded, picking up a few scraps and grabbing the trash can.
—————-
"Oh, look who finally decided to show up."
"Oh shut it, Percy. Ran into some trouble on the way here." Nico sighed, "Let's Go. We don't have a ton of time to waste."
"Right, Let's Go then."