"Mr Parker, How nice of you to return my calls." The Billionaire sarcastically splayed.
'Uh- uhm", I cough out.
"you're in my room?"
"No, duh." Mr Stark retaliated and rolled his eyes.
"so kid, the calls, messages. Frankly, being who I am, I don't usually get left on reading, especially by teenagers in big trouble." He continued
I swallowed the massive lump forming in my throat and wiped off my sweaty hands on the legs of my suit.
"S-sir, I uhm-"
"zip it underoos. The adult is talking," he said sternly while grabbing a web dissolver from my nightstand and pouring it on his hand. He stood up and straightened his dark suit while looking in the body-length mirror on my wall.
"So let me get this straight", he spoke firmly, turning to face me.
"you go out as this little vigilante while I'm supposed to look after you for the weekend. Get shot! Then proceed to not tell me."
This was spoken with a hint of rage in Tony's voice while slowly stepping towards the teen, who was nervously shaking, taking more steps towards the door. Water brimming in his eyes, but he found the strength to hold them back a little longer.
"Then after I take care of you, surgically, saving your life. You leave my tower and don't return my calls. I almost forgot, and you skipped a week's internship." I had nothing to say back to Mr Stark. I already knew I messed it all up. I backed up as the man towered over me; one more step back, I tripped backwards on a shoe and grasped the wall for support.
"M-Mr Stark, Sir, I'm sorry; I know I messed up. I- " I stumble out before being cut off.
"Messed up? Messed up. Kid, you almost died. That's a lot more than messing up. Do you have any idea how that would have reflected on me? I almost fired you from being an intern. Almost. Then you dare to not show up and make Happy come here every day looking for you." Mr Stark coldly speaks and walks past me into the hallway and down to the kitchen, starting to open the cupboards.
"Have you at least eaten dinner yet? It's late?"
I shake my head no in response as I watch Mr Stark.
My jumper was still half off, exposing the stitched wound on my shoulder, still red and swollen, and worst of all, he could see my ribs. My bony, no-good ribs are sticking out through my skin. A gaunt figure, weak.
I can see now that the rage has left Mr Stark, but he's still upset. After grabbing a box of pasta, a pot, and other various stuff, he looks up at me standing in the hallway.
"Jesus, kid, do you even eat." He examined
"y-yes", Is all I could mummer before returning to my room and putting a clean T-shirt on. Walking out in the cramped and cluttered hallway, Mr Stark looks up again with a meaningful smile.
"So, why did you leave me on seen. " Mr Stark asked, referring to me not answering my phone.
"It's uhm, it's off; it has been in my bag all week.." I manage out
"Huh, I thought you were smarter than to lie to me. You read the messages, Pete." Stark remarked, shaking his head.
"n-no, I mean, after I read them, I turned my phone off. You can check if you want." I offered to start to lean back towards my room.
"No need. Time to start talking, Kid."
I sat down on the couch as Mr Stark brought the pasta to a boil. I explained what happened to me, just like I had done with Aunt May.
" You have no idea what you are doing; you could get somebody killed, kid." he started.
" You're going to need some proper training. But, you have to listen to the adults in your life and actually talk to us. I have no time to deal with a broody teen."
My sunken face sprung to life.
"Training?" I spoke, jumping out of my seat.
"uh, easy kid, we aren't finished. You need to tell me why you left the tower."
My heart sank, and so did my body; I dumped my slender form back into the cushions.
"I, well, you see, uhm. I thought you would take Spiderman away; I was already a letdown. I can't believe I let myself get shot, and arghhh. I don't know. I was just trying to avoid the pain of being yelled at and forced out of something I love, so I just left on my own accord." I admitted.
"Thank you for being honest with me, " Tony said, handing me a bowl of plain pasta with some mushrooms chopped up into it and, I think, salt.
I placed the bowl at my side where he wasn't sitting.
"thank you for cooking, Mr Stark", I quietly admitted.
"I'll swing by tomorrow and pick you up personally to talk to your Aunt. Be ready at 10, k?" Mr Stark spoke, standing up and walking for the door; I placed some of the pasta on a fork and to my mouth for show and nodded back at Mr Stark.
I spat the food back into the bowl when the apartment door closed. It was good, but I really didn't deserve this food. I opened the bin with my foot and poured the food in, so I wouldn't be tempted later.
Walking back into my messy room, pushing clothes aside with my foot, I reach for my bag, pulling my phone out. Turning it on, I see why Mr Stark was... Mad. Thirty missed calls from Happy, twelve from Mr Stark, One from Pepper and a bunch of text messages. After talking to Stark, I saw no need to look at the messages, so I swiped them away, switched my phone back off, and climbed into bed. Mr Stark was going to train me tomorrow. I let my mind drift off, and my body fell asleep.
Arguing alerted me from the kitchen, two different voices. Peaking my eyes open, I saw my door was left open a crack, the sun from the hall beaming down on the wood floors. I groggily slide my feet out of the covers and balance myself. Standing and walking towards the door, the voices got louder and were now recognisable. Mr Stark and Aunt May were speaking; I leaned over to the door and listened to what I thought was yelling but was, in fact, whispering, which piqued my interest.
"If you hurt my kid, Tony, Respectfully, I'll kill you." May retorted.
She took a deep breath and sighed, pausing Mr Stark from speaking.
"He was so devastated coming home last week." She admitted,
"While I didn't know he wasn't attending the internship, it made me realise how scared he was to face you. He's a boy doing a man's job, and I don't want to see him get hurt."
"May I understand. I'll do everything I can to ensure nothing happens to him. But I think we have another problem. " Mr Stark offers.
I hear footsteps in the kitchen and the metal clanging on the bin opening. "When I was over last night, I made him dinner. He's so fragile. May his ribs were sticking out. He said he would eat, but it's all in the bin. Have you noticed Peter not eating?" He questioned back at my Aunt.
I may let out another sigh, but this one sounded sadder, sending me pain."Tony, I try my best, but if you have yet to notice, we don't live in a mansion exactly. Money is tight, and sometimes Peter and I go days without food." She admits
I can hear Tony's heartbeat speed up.
"It won't happen again." He brushes
"Now let me get this kid up. He's late." Footsteps start approaching my room. He can't know I was listening; I quickly turn and jump back under my blankets, closing my eyes as the door swings open.
"Rise and shine underoos." Mr Stark spoke loudly at my door.
"We are very much let chop-chop get dressed. I'm leaving in five, with or without you." He sang out, walking towards the front door.
I rolled back out of bed and chucked on some fresh clothes. Once again, reaching for my unprepared bag, throwing it over my shoulder, waving bye to May and running out the door, I can hear Mr Stark a few floors down on the stairs still; I grab onto the railing and jump down, sticking my arm out on his level and catching myself on the side of the bar swinging myself back him.
"See, not late", I smartly say; Mr Stark shakes his head and keeps walking as I trail behind him.
Outside, parked on the street, I see a very grumpy Happy waiting next to a bright yellow BMW. It's not a colour I would have chosen, but Iron Man is yellow and red, so I get it. Happy looked me up and down.
"So he is alive", He grumbles, opening the door for Mr Stark and myself, then getting in the driver's seat. I climbed in and shut the door behind us. Mr Stark looked engrossed in his phone, so I spent the car ride looking out the window of the dreary city, thinking about what Mr Stark had said before.
Was he really catching on with my eating? I'm going to have to do better. Thinking about food made my stomach strain in pain, but it was the kind of pain I liked.
Instead of dropping me at the entry like usual, Happy drove around to the back of the tower and pulled into a massive parking garage filled with designer cars. Stepping out, the smell of new cars filled my nose; most of them looked like they had never been driven. Except at the end, near the entry door, there was a small rusted car that was not designer. I wonder why Tony has it in here. I awkwardly follow Mr Stark through the entry doors, with the sound of our feet echoing through the garage cutting through the silence.
Getting into the elevator, Mr Stark glances over at me. "How's the shoulder, kid?"
"Super healing, all fixed", I ratted off.
"Good, got to test your abilities. You're going to be doing some entry-level training with Romanoff." Mr Stark spoke as if he was scared of Miss Romanoff's abilities; even though she is human, she is insanely good at what she does.
"O-okay, Mr Stark, no problem," I replied as the elevator dinged, getting out on the training level. Walking down the hall, a colossal room encased in glass with a matt floor came into view.
The training room. The back wall was covered in hanging training equipment. Not even fake weapons. The walls had sharpened knives, spears, literally everything.
Mr Stark opened the door and gestured for me to follow. My attention draws to Miss Romanoff sparring with The Captain. America. The super soldier who has insane strength and skills on the battlefield. But Blackwidow was holding her own, teaching him some moves even. Mr Stark coughed, bringing attention to us and halting the training.
"Stark, Kid- glad to see you're doing okay." Mr Rogers stresses.
"The kids in need of some training lessons. I'm sure I can leave him in your capable hands, Nat." Stark swiftly backs out the door, leaving me in silence.
Natasha looked back over to Steve and then me again.
"Alrighty then, spiderman, show me what you got."
She gritted as she began to throw a punch at me. Thankfully, my spider sense was working fine; I ducked under the punch and rolled to the side into a reading position. Blackwidow swiftly kicked my foot from under me, sending me onto my back; my arms reached backwards to catch myself and push upwards, sending me to stand again. Another punch, but my stomach came rolling in. I kicked my right leg at the punch, blocking it and following through into a kick to her abdomen. The leg connected with her body and sent her tumbling back.
"Very good," she said, her body contorted into a roll and flipped through my legs standing behind me; I spun to face her, but I was hit with her fist to my face. The training continued for another half an hour, with Natasha correcting my posture and moves, even teaching me some easy self-defence.
It was fun to freely train with people and be open about who I am. However, it still wasn't sitting right in my mind, showing off my abilities after finishing with a flip over Blackwidow's head and punching Mr Rogers' shield, a clapping rung through the training centre. Turning, I saw many people staring at my abilities; this freaked me out. Mr Stark, Pepper and the majority of the other Avengers living at the compound were criticising me, and I didn't even know it. The tremors through my body started to vibrate harder. Sweat started pooling down my face, and the heat from my body shifted like all the warmth from my blood had left my body.
"Pete? You okay? you're looking a bit pale?" Miss Romanoff questioned, getting closer to me.
no, no, no, no, no, no
Too many people, so much happening, what if they think I suck. Before her hand could reach my shoulder, I tapped my wrists, revealing the web-shooters, and shot myself up to the roof, where I could see an exit, a vent.
I kicked the vent door off and scrambled in.
My breath starts to pick up and weigh me down; a heavy feeling in my chest causes me to stop in the vents after a few turns. No heaving my breathing. The echo of my wheezing could be heard through the vents.