Update: it's Friday, October 11th, I'm way behind for the second time, I just chugged a thing of coffee and I'm sitting with tea beside me and I'm about to go on a writing extravaganza.

Update: Now it's Sunday at 10 pm, I need to update fast and I'm writing hella fast

Update: I missed the update. Sorry :/ i'm trying

Requested by fan_girl2403 !

As it turned out, Peter was actually having a rather good day. Well, technically it was night now, about midnight.

He and the rest of the Avengers had just taken down an enormous, highly powerful supervillain that was threatening New York and the surrounding area.

But when he saw the small, glowing object lying among the ruins, Peter had every intention of bringing it to Tony for it to be analyzed.

"Mr. Stark would want this, right?" He muttered aloud, staring at it.

However, as soon as he touched it, it started to glow. Peter stumbled backwards, but it felt as though he were glued to the spot. When he was finally able to rip his hand away, his heart was racing and the boy shook his hand out frantically.

"I should probably tell Mr. Stark," He mumbled, clutching his hand.

I guess I'll tell Tony about it once we're back at the compound, Peter decided, not wanting to attempt to pick it up again.

Quickly, Peter turned and webbed his way across the city over the loud noises of traffic and people talking.

Once he made it to the compound, Peter stumbled into a quick roll and shakily started walking toward the entrance.

He didn't make it very far before blackness encroached upon his vision that wasn't there before and the ground was rushing toward him.

Tony's POV

"Boss, Peter has entered the premises. He appears to have just passed out," FRIDAY told Tony, startling him out of his researching.

"I- what? Where?" Tony demanded, jumping up and ready to move. "Right outside of the back entrance, sir," She replied.

The minute it took for him to get to Peter's side was a dazed blur of color and lights. Crouching, Tony lifted Peter easily into his arms - the kid was way lighter than any human being should be, thanks to his spider genes.

Before Tony even got to the Med Bay, Peter was stirring. He opened his eyes and looked up at Tony, confused.

"What's going on?" Peter asked flatly. Tony exhaled in relief. "You passed out," The man told him, not ready to put the boy down.

Peter frowned. "Okay."

Tony looked at him hesitantly. Normally he'd be talking a mile a minute at this point about something or other. Instead, Peter was silent, watching Tony expectantly.

There was a beat of silence.

"Are you going to put me down?" Peter asked, amused and almost exasperated.

"Are you hurt?" Tony retorted, scanning through boy up and down before putting him down on his feet. "Nope," Peter said easily.

"I- okay?" Tony began hesitantly.

Peter just nodded and left the area without another word.

"What the hell?"

-------------

"Hey, kid," Tony said, walking into Peter's room. The boy looked up silently, as was becoming usual for him. Tony had been trying to figure out if something had happened to him at the battle, to no use. The compound had been incredibly quiet since.

"I hate to say this... but you have to stay here. The guy we fought said that he had people everywhere, watching. Even at Midtown High. He knew you were a high school student. That person is still there, as far as we know."

Tony braced himself for a flood of protest, but he was caught off guard when Peter simply said "okay".

"Is something wrong?" Tony asked, studying the boy. Peter just tilted his head slightly. "No. Why would there be?"

-------------

A few days later, Tony walked into the training room to see Peter angrily attacking a punching bag.

They were Avengers-grade, and nobody had managed to destroy one yet, not even Thor. But the bag was jumping and fraying as Peter punched it, and in a final burst of hits, the bag split down the middle.

Peter shook his hands out, glaring at the decimated punching bag.

"Peter? Wanna come down to the lab with me?" Tony asked hesitantly, glancing at the equipment. Peter stared at Tony in almost a confused state before saying "No thanks."

What was going on?

--------------

Clint had discovered the murdered punching bag and checked the tapes to see who did it. Once seeing it, he had proposed a Peter vs. all training battle.

So, now they were all awkwardly standing in the middle of the gym staring at each other.

The rule was, if you were on the ground for more than five seconds, you were out.

Clint counted down and then yelled an excited "Go!"

Thor was the first to move, running at Peter who swiftly ducked under the god's arm and twisted it sideways, using it as leverage to leap onto the man's shoulders and use his legs to flip Thor to the ground.

Tony whistled softly, waiting for an opening as Clint loaded his bow with stun arrows. Wanda started to use her magic to catch Peter off balance, but he noticed and leaped toward her, kicking the girl backward.

Pietro started to attack, only to be webbed swiftly to the wall in the middle of a movement.

"You're not supposed to have your web shooters!" Steve called. "I don't!" Peter retorted.

Wanda began to attack again, but Peter shifted quickly. Blades erupted out of the boy's wrists - stingers, Tony realized. Like those of a spider's. Peter nicked Wanda's forearm with them lightly and she fell backwards with a look of shock.

"Shit!" Peter breathed in a moment of surprise. "Okay," He continued warily, before returning to the fight, retracting the stingers.

Steve had ducked in during Peter's pause of distraction and grabbed the boy's wrist, then punching him away. Or so he attempted. Peter just stood there, staring at him, then kicked Steve to the ground, and dodging one of Bucky's fists. Clint shot an arrow at Peter, but the boy simply caught it and hurled it back at the man with pinpoint accuracy. Natasha jumped in quickly and dodged a few of Peter's blows. She slipped underneath him and leaped onto his shoulders, pulling him backwards.

Peter flipped quickly and seized one of the woman's legs, using the momentum of the backflip to slide Natasha off and slam her into the ground. She rolled sideways and sprang to her feet, but not before Peter jumped away from her sweeping kick. The boy grabbed her leg as she tried to kick him and judo-flipped her to the ground, shooting a web to keep her there for at least the next five seconds.

Bucky attacked at the same time as Clint and Tony. Peter flipped over Bucky's head and, when the man punched at him, slid out of the way. Bucky's fist ended up hitting Clint, who sprawled to the ground. Peter took advantage of Bucky's distraction to kick his legs out from under him and web him to the ground.

Sam and Rhodey double-attacked, only for Peter to flip Sam into Rhodey and knock them both into the ground.

Vision and Tony were the last ones standing soon. They traded wary glances and then rushed Peter together. The boy smirked and fended off blow after blow from Tony, all while avoiding blasts from Vision.

The fight ended when Peter literally threw Tony at Vision, knocking them both to the ground.

Peter exhaled a breath, not even looking tired as he took his mask off, grabbing the web dissolver and tossed it to Natasha, who had one hand free.

Clint brushed himself off, grinning. "That was crazy!" He exclaimed. Steve had narrowed his eyes. "How did you do that?" He asked. "You've never been able to do that before."

Peter looked defensive. "I just trained!" He said fiercely. Bucky tilted his head. "I don't see how stingers come from training. How did you really do it?"

Peter backed away. "Do you guys not trust me or something?" He inquired, glaring.

"Something clearly happened that you're not telling us," Pietro said, scrutinizing the boy with clear suspicion.

"What's your deal?" Peter snapped, recoiling. "I didn't do anything wrong! What are you guys, jealous?"

He spun on one foot and made for the door, stepping neatly around Tony as he tried to stop the boy.

The door slammed shut with a bang that echoed through the silent room.

------------

It had been two weeks, and Peter didn't come back. They had been looking for him, but the boy was nowhere to be found.

Tony was sitting in the lab, exhausted from a long night of searching for Peter on the Internet and all New York cameras when the mission alert came in. There was a HYDRA base located in North Carolina, over at the Biltmore.

Who would've known?

Apparently the famous mansion had been run by HYDRA for decades as they used it to locate and gather information on targets and stored tech underground.

That was a new one.

So, they were headed out there on a Quinjet.

They got there right after the place was closed and all the visitors had left, then burst through the doors into the entry room.

Searching through the basement, Natasha found a secret door that led to an empty wall.

The rest of them made their way there, and Tony took a look at the wall.

"Please be a secret room, please be a secret room..." Tony muttered, tapping on the wall. A brick gave way and a door slid open. "Yay!"

They stepped through and realized they were outside again, in a huge garden that had to be at least 20 acres.

That's a lot, by the way.

Then a few hundred people from HYDRA swarmed the Avengers.

"Okay, not so 'yay' anymore," He muttered, punching a guy in the face.

There was a scream from Wanda, and Tony flew to her side. She had been knocked out in the time it took for him to get there. Tony seized the agent standing over her. Wanda was practically infallible.

"How did you do it?" He asked fiercely, lifting the agent into the air. The agent gasped for air. "Wouldn't you like to know?" A distinctly feminine voice asked.

"Tell me or I'll end you in the most painful way possible." The woman hesitated. Tony powered up a repulsor and aimed it at her. "We have... a new informant who told us your weaknesses. She isn't good at close range combat!" She said hastily.

"Who? How long?" Tony demanded. The woman shook her head. "I don't - I don't know, only a few people do. Maybe two weeks?"

Tony tossed her aside roughly.

An informant. Someone had infiltrated the Avengers.

Tony grabbed Wanda and draped her over his shoulders, flying her to the jet as the rest of the Avengers finished up.

Laying the girl down on the bed of the in-ship Med Bay, Tony turned to face the team as they filtered in.

"There's a spy," Tony told them quickly as they sat down. Natasha turned to him with a horrified look. "You're kidding, right?" She asked. Tony shook his head. Steve paled. "How long?" The super soldier inquired. "An agent said they were probably there for two weeks."

Bucky looked over, arms braced on a table. "Any names?" Tony shook his head.

"You know who's been missing for two weeks?" Pietro asked bitterly. Tony jerked his head to stare at the boy. "Are you serious?" He demanded, livid. "Peter would never do something right that."

Pietro raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not saying he'd betray us, per say. But he was acting really odd..." Tony glared at him. "Peter. Would. Not. Do. That."

Steve stepped forward, hands out placatingly. "It is possible that Peter... was taken against his will in some manner," He said quickly.

Tony looked at him doubtfully. "They couldn't do anything to him that would make him tell," He pointed out. Bucky scowled. "There are worse things than death. And HYDRA can do any of them," He said bitterly.

"He wouldn't." Tony was convinced of this. Natasha was silent, but he could almost hear her thinking: piecing together information and things that have happened.

Sam was doing the same thing.

It was evident when he came to a conclusion.

"Sam..." Tony exclaimed, betrayed as he read his face.

The man stared at the ground, looking thoroughly ashamed.

"I don't think he would. But if there's - you never know if other people can do what Wanda can, what Loki had done before he changed..." Sam hesitated.

Tony paused. Did it make sense? Maybe.

"We are jumping to conclusions here, you know. It's more than likely a coincidence," Nat said quickly. Tony could tell she was just as desperate for Peter's safety as he was.

------------

There was a HYDRA attack.

Wanda hadn't been able to make it: she was very injured in the Biltmore run, and was still suffering from severe concussions and multiple broken bones.

They were in a place startlingly similar to Sokovia, abandoned except for enemy. Of course, this time it was agents instead of murderous robots. And they were in New York.

There had to be thousands of agents, but they were doing well until something happened.

Steve went down, and nobody was sure how. The super soldier was half-coherent over the comms. "Someone dropped out- the sky. Hit me. Away - he went up."

"I'm on it," Tony said, blasting into the sky.

A lone figure was perched on a roof, and Tony flew over that way silently. He landed on the building, staring at who was clearly the person to take down Steve. They were short, and wearing a mask, as well as a jacket with a hood, effectively obscuring their face. It was clear they were special though - red stripes were painted down the sleeves of the jacket, and their mask was decorated differently.

The figure looked over to see Tony. Something in their eyes seemed very conflicted. It was like the agent was fighting themselves on the inside.

Tony lifted his arm to fire a repulsor, and the agent hesitated.

The agent was a male - he had a very distinctive build, but something was wrong. He was in a fighting stance, but he wasn't moving, like he was having an internal debate.

Tony shook off his confusion, fired up his repulsor, and blasted the agent off the building as the agent was hesitating.

A surprised yell drifted up to Tony as the agent fell.

A somehow familiar yell, that Tony couldn't quite place.

At any rate, the building was a hundred stories high. The agent couldn't possibly survive.

Tony returned to the fight.

Natasha nodded at him as he blasted an agent away from her. "Nice of you to show up!" She yelled over the sound of the fray. "What were you doing up there, gazing into the agent's eyes?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious, Romanoff."

There was a shift in the atmosphere as Bucky's yell echoed through the battlefield, quickly cut off.

"Shall we figure out what that was?" Natasha proposed, kicking an operative into a tree.

Tony smirked. "They always need our help, don't they."

Natasha lifted her arm in a move that she and Tony had practiced multiple times. Tony blasted over to her and grabbed her wrist. She twisted and slung herself onto his back, lacing her arms around his shoulders and securing her legs around his waist in an easy manner.

Tony grinned and they blasted off toward Bucky's last coordinates.

When they touched down, nothing was there. "Scan for heat signatures," Tony instructed, looking warily around the trees.

"Scanning," FRIDAY replied. Tony looked over at Natasha. Suddenly, the woman's eyes widened. "Tony-" She exclaimed, half a second too late. A weight collided with Tony's back, and electricity erupted across the Iron Man suit's skin.

But it didn't work like Thor's lightning. There was something odd about this type of electricity - disabling his suit instead of powering it.

A shadow rose up behind Natasha. Tony started to say another warning, but his mouth wasn't working and the world faded away.

--------------

When he woke up, he was bound to a chair next to the rest of the Avengers. "What happened to you guys?" Tony asked warily. "Some guy threw a device at me," Vision grumbled. "It disabled my systems. They're still not working. How did you guys get here?"

Everyone else had a similar story.

A HYDRA agent - and not the one from the building - was crossing his arms in front of them. "Hello, Avengers. I suppose you're wondering how I managed to get you here."

Pietro's eyes darkened. "The spy," He stated.

A hint of surprise registered in the agent's eyes.

"You're correct. The spy was able to tell us your weaknesses, and we could exploit them from there. I am Daniel Whitehall, but you can call me the Kraken."

Natasha traded a glance with Bucky.

"So then, I presume you already know I brought you here to kill you," Kraken continued matter-of-factly.

"I did assume so," Tony deadpanned.

"While we would typically let the lovely Natalia free," The man strolled over to Natasha and fingered a gun in his left pocket. "Or the Asset," He added. "All of you will die, as you are now no use to us."

"Who would like to die first?" Kraken inquired, pulling out the gun. "I suppose that I will choose."

The man shifted his gun between all of the Avengers before settling on Tony.

"The one and only Tony Stark. People think of him as a god. Shall we see proof that he's mortal after all?"

Kraken released the safety on the gun, aimed directly for Tony's head, and smirked.

CRACK.

A shadow had moved. Incredibly fast. Not as fast as Pietro, but still.

They had swung their arm with a clear amount of force behind it, and the Kraken had shot sideways.

Then the shadow moved again, and everything came into focus.

The agent Tony had kicked off of the building was standing over the unconscious body of the Kraken, trembling.

He knelt down to grab the gun and leveled it at Natasha, swiftly firing.

The woman didn't even flinch. The agent's aim was true - the ropes binding her to the chair were severed neatly down the middle.

The agent did the same thing to Tony's ropes, before abruptly dropping the gun.

Tony hesitated, watching as the agent swayed backwards, shaking. Natasha started to move toward the man, reaching out, but he recoiled.

Natasha took a few steps back when the agent's head jerked.

His eyes, previously filled with a bit of fear but a lot of triumph, had darkened and filled with rage.

The agent let out a hiss of annoyance and turned to run away.

He was gone before Tony realized what had happened.

"What the hell just happened?" Rhodey breathed, staring at the dropped gun.

"I have no idea," Tony replied, starting to untie the rest of the Avengers.

Peter's POV

It had been a while since he passed out.

He wasn't consciously aware of the flow of time until now, when he had woken up.

Because now it was noon, and previously it was midnight.

The blackness had receded, for a few seconds, and suddenly he was crouching in some bushes, staring at a man who was ranting. Tilting his head a bit, he could see people tied up.

His team? What was going on?

All he knew was that the man had just pointed a gun at Tony's head.

Peter moved faster than he had ever done before and in about two seconds he had cleared about an acre of land to hit the man across the head. A resounding crack echoed across the forest.

Peter was trembling as he stared at the collapsed man. What had he done?

He opened his mouth to speak, only to realize he was wearing some type of mask.

He had done it. He'd saved Tony, right?

Crouching, he picked up the man's gun and, in two quick movements, shot the ropes off of Natasha and Tony.

He was about to free Clint, but the blackness was starting to return, and he stumbled.

Peter looked up at Tony, scared. In about half a second, he processed this:

He had passed out at least twelve hours earlier.

He was in the middle of a forest.

And he was in completely different clothes from before.

Then he swayed and passed out on his feet.

Tony's POV

"Who was that guy?" Sam asked shakily. "I have no idea," Tony managed, staring at the space that the agent had disappeared into. "Could it be one of SHIELD's spies?" Pietro inquired. Tony shook his head. "I... saw him earlier. He was the one that attacked Steve. A spy wouldn't have done that."

Natasha frowned. "That makes no sense. Why would he have switched sides?"

"I have no idea. Especially because I blasted him off of a building. He shouldn't have survived. That building was - what, a hundred stories?" Tony guessed. "One hundred and twelve," Natasha corrected distractedly.

"Either way. Shouldn't have survived. FRIDAY, check the security tapes. What happened to that guy?"

"Playing files," FRIDAY said almost immediately.

A small screen appeared. The agent was falling, falling, falling - and hit the ground in a smooth roll, then stood up easily as if nothing had happened.

"Show this to the team," Tony instructed. A holograph beamed out of Natasha's wrist, and she held it out for everyone to see.

"Who can possibly do that?" Bucky asked when it was over.

"Well shit, don't ask me," Tony said defensively.

"Sir!" FRIDAY exclaimed, tone urgent. "What's up, FRI?"

"There has been one spotting of Peter Parker."

-------------

"So he just - appeared. Out of thin air?" Tony asked, throwing a pen across the room.

"That seems to be correct, Boss," Tony slammed his face into the table at FRIDAY's words.

"So he appeared, bought bandages with cash at a Target, and disappeared."

"Yes."

Tony slumped back in his chair. "Any suggestions?" He asked.

FRIDAY paused. "Well. He showed up right after the HYDRA attack. I recommend finding a HYDRA agent that would know what's going on and tell you."

None of SHIELD's spies were particularly high up in the rankings.

But there was one person Tony recently met that seemed special within HYDRA.

Sadly, it was also the person he had blasted off of a 112-story building.

"See if you can locate that one HYDRA agent, yeah?"

FRIDAY's voice came up again, with a hint of smugness. "Got it, Boss."

--------------

"So, you're finding the guy," Natasha said, leaning against the wall. "You'd be right," Tony muttered, distracted. "And you think he can find Peter?" She asked. "Hypothetically."

Natasha hesitated. "And you don't think he's hostile? He looked really angry before he left. Plus, he attacked Steve."

Tony paused. "Yes, well. He's our best bet, unless there's someone better you can think of?"

Natasha shook her head. "Shall we go catch an agent?" She offered, sticking out her hand to pull Tony up from his chair.

"We shall," Tony replied, grinning as he accepted her hand.

-------------

They searched the city, but couldn't find him, despite everything.

That was when Nat had the idea.

"We didn't destroy the Biltmore, because it's a tourist place. Does that mean HYDRA could still be there?" She asked excitedly.

Tony grinned at her. "You are an absolute genius."

Natasha smirked. "Comes with the job. Can't really be an idiotic assassin," She pointed out. "You're not an assassin anymore, 'Tasha. You're an Avenger."

The woman smiled softly - gratefully.

With that, they flew off to the estate.

-------------

The agent was there.

He was sitting in the same red-and-black hoodie, in the bowling alley of the Biltmore.

Tony worked his way around, toward the agent. "Hey," The agent said in a voice raspy from disuse. "I thought you'd come."

Tony frowned, and gestured for Natasha to come out.

"What would give you that idea?"

"I know you."

And just like the day in battle, the agent moved fast.

He was kicking Tony to the ground, mask already in place, and wheeling to face Natasha, slamming her into the wall.

Something happened, and the agent stumbled backwards, letting out a bloodcurdling scream. Natasha brushed herself off. 'What's going on?' She mouthed to Tony. 'No idea,' He replied, firing up his repulsors.

"Let's take him in."

Natasha rushed forward at the agent, but he simply tossed her over one shoulder and kicked her to the ground.

Tony didn't hesitate.

As soon as he saw a gleam of silver, he had equipped a gun and fired off five rounds.

They all hit home on the distracted agent.

It wasn't a knife. It was a phone.

Tony had just shot a potential ally five times after an assumption. And he had already thrown him off a building.

It seemed to be enough for the agent to collapse to the ground, twitching. Natasha stood up and stooped to handcuff the agent, then making eye contact with Tony.

"Let's take him to the jet and get him medical care. He can give us information, at least," Tony said, seizing the agent around the wrist and pulling him into the air.

Chills rose as Tony realized how light the agent was.

Like Peter.

Not now.

Tony and Natasha ran back to the jet, agent in tow and bleeding severely. Somehow, multiple wounds were beginning to close, despite the fact that bullets remained in them.

After cuffing the agent to a bed in the Med Bay and connecting him to the various devices after patching their wounds, they had decided to take off the mask.

"Ready?" Natasha inquired, arching an eyebrow from the other side of the unconscious agent.

Tony managed a smile. "It won't matter much anyways, there's a billion to one chance that I'd know him," He pointed out.

Nat shrugged and unceremoniously pulled off the mask.

Then she recoiled, gasping.

Tony stared at the passed-out body of Peter Parker.

Natasha was pale. "Did he...?" Tony knew exactly what she was trying to ask. Did Peter betray them?

Tony wasn't sure he'd want to know the answer.

"FRIDAY, when did Peter start acting weird?" Tony managed through the whirlwind of fear, betrayal, and anger.

"Approximately 4 and a half weeks, Boss," FRIDAY replied factually. "And... did anything odd happen around then? Check Karen's feeds." "Okay."

The beeping of the heart monitor suddenly lengthened into one, drawn-out beep.

Natasha met Tony's eyes, a silent question there. 'Should we save him?'

He almost wanted to say no. But if there was any possible chance that Peter didn't betray them, that this was a clone or Peter was being controlled...

Tony couldn't risk that.

Tony darted over to the boy's side, quickly adjusting settings and let the IV release some epinephrine into the body.

There was a terrible silence as the noise continued. Tony raised the dosage.

"I have found something, Boss," FRIDAY exclaimed suddenly. Hope sparked in Tony's chest.

"What is it?" Tony inquired. "Mr. Parker interacted with a possession formerly belonging to the villain you defeated shortly before. It appears he had the intention to bring it to you, but... perhaps it's easier if I show you."

A video started playing. Peter was crouched in a decimated building, staring at a glowing item among some rubble.

"Mr. Stark would want this, right?" Peter mumbled aloud, reaching out to grab it. As soon as his hand came into contact, the brightness increased. Peter tore himself away from the object, trembling. "I should probably tell Mr. Stark," He had whispered, before turning to swing away.

"What happened here?" Tony asked. The entire video had given him whiplash.

"It seems to be a possible situation that Peter is undergoing mental tampering, and he isn't in fact a danger to us, only the other person."

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," Tony muttered. Peter was okay - kind of.

Peter was flatlining again.

Tony rushed to Peter's side, heart pounding, when a hissing sound emanated from the bed. Tony briefly looked at Natasha, checking that she had heard, too. When he received a sharp nod, he returned his attention to Peter.

A small cloud of black smoke puffed up from his body, and Peter stirred. Tony pulled out a gun and aimed it directly at Peter's forehead.

Just in case.

Peter blinked his eyes to focus them, and his eyes immediately latched onto Tony, then the gun. "What the- what's going on?" Peter asked in evident confusion.

Tony scoffed. "Drop the act. We know you're doing something to Peter."

Peter made eye contact with Natasha in a disbelieving stare. "Are you okay, Mr. Stark? It's me, Peter. We once built a lego death star together because Ned couldn't come?"

Tony exchanged a glance with Natasha.

"Would someone please tell me what's going on? Because all I know was- okay, remember when we were fighting that dude? And we won? I found this glowy thing in the rubble. Oh! And then at some point a bit more recently, I saved your life? Not sure how, but I did. I'm sure you had it handled, but -"

Peter's rambling was more familiar by the second, and Tony engulfed Peter in a hug.

"Ouch! Shit, why does everything hurt so badly?" Peter cursed, inspecting himself. "Oh. You were shot. Five times," Nat told him, slightly suspicious but mostly relieved.

"Ah. That explains it. Who?" Tony sighed, turning away. "Me. My bad."

"What?" Peter asked disbelievingly. "Why? You just shot me while I was asleep?"

Tony laughed bitterly. "You sure as hell weren't asleep."

Peter stared intently at Tony for a few seconds. "It wasn't your fault," He said. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You weren't even there, kid. Plus, I shot you. I'm pretty sure it was my fault."

Peter scoffed. "Yeah, as if you don't lecture me on having a guilt complex that size. If I shot you because-" He broke off staring at Nat pleadingly.

"If Peter shot you because you were posing a threat to him, what would you think?" Natasha provided smoothly.

Tony hesitated. "Well, good for him, he knows what he's doing! He needs to live."

"So, when the roles are reversed, why can't you forgive yourself?" Natasha countered.

Peter's POV

Out of Tony's current view, Peter had blanched and shook at the words 'roles are reversed'.

Had he tried to hurt Tony?

Peter was silent for the rest of the trip, and a lot of the time when they met up with the Avengers again.

In fact, he was doing quite well until Tony cornered him in the Med Bay.

Of course, it was less of a 'cornered' issue and more of a 'Peter was confined to a bed and couldn't actually leave' issue.

"Hey, kid," Tony said softly. Peter flinched away.

Had he hurt him?

"I need - I need to know what happened," Peter managed. "Who did I hurt?"

Tony sighed. "Nobody, actually. I definitely hurt you more than anything," He finished the last sentence almost silently. Peter picked up on it using his enhanced hearing.

"What do you mean, you hurt me? You could never hurt me," Peter pointed out. Tony rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, blasting someone off of a 112-story-building and then shooting them 5 times isn't hurting someone."

Peter could tell Tony was more affected than he was letting on.

The rest of the team had been filled in on what happened, and the evidence checked out, so the whole issue had been really resolved. Thor had taken the weird murder cube to Asgard for no apparent reason other than to get it away.

Peter opened his arms for a hug. "You didn't know. I'm 100% sure of that, if nothing else. I know you, Mr. Stark. You could never be a bad person to me."

Tony was tearing up. "I love you, kid."

Peter choked out an "I love you too."

------------

Little bits from the next few weeks

"Tony!" Peter shrieked. "Just because I can't walk doesn't mean you can pick me up and run around the compound like a psychopath!"

Tony grinned at the boy perched delicately on his shoulder. "I think I can. I'm adopting you anyways, I'm working on getting Dad Time in."

Peter scoffed. "You know you're already the best dad?" He checked.

Tony swelled with happiness. "Thanks, kid.

*****

"Just because you can walk doesn't mean you have to take revenge immediately!" Tony huffed from where he and Peter stood on the ceiling. Well, Peter stood. Tony was just not falling, held in place by Peter.

"Well, yes, but I can. That's what makes it fun!" He exclaimed, beaming spontaneously.

"Also, I'm trying to get my Son Time in!"

"Oh, shut up."

*****

Sorry for the late update again!

This didn't turn out as long as I expected ;-;

So I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to update this weekend. I've been getting some terrible sleeps (last week my grand total was 19 hours) and I literally passed out while making this, so that's why it isn't up until now

If I have time/I'm bored, I'll work on an update. But, if I don't update this weekend, I'll be back on track for next weekend!

Sorry!

Have a good day/night/afternoon/evening/whatever