Hah you were expecting some sort of inspirational fluffy quote! NOPE! it has been brought to my ATTENTION
that some people actually want me to continue this story... who knew? So, um, hi?
Peter made it back to the compound and walked in the front doors. He was still confused, nothing had been making sense that day. First, the weird phantom pain in his lungs disappeared. Then, he was still locked out of Tony's lab. Third, for some reason Michelle was acting... weird. Or maybe he was acting weird and she was acting normal. But when did normal get so... cute?
And now this. Now Tony had called him 17 times for no reason and he had to rush back to the compound for some kind of conversation.
Peter hesitated before going upstairs. What if Tony wanted to kick him out of the compound, and off the team? He'd never even been officially on the team, but the thought hurt Peter's heart so much it nearly came up his throat. He had caused a lot of trouble lately, and made way too many mistakes. He didn't deserve to be an Avenger. He wasn't strong enough to carry that mantle. Tony was right to take it away.
"Hey, Peter! You're back, how was the beach?" Clint called from the top of the stairs, Peter still frozen at the bottom. He hadn't realized he was about to cry until he had to blink the sting out of his eyes. "Um, f-fine. Has anyone talked to Tony?" Peter's voice cracked pathetically as he spoke, and Clint tilted his head.
Maybe this was a group decision. They were all waiting for Peter, the screw-up teen, to finally be out of their lives.
"Um, no, he's been locked in his lab since yesterday. Is something wrong?" Clint made a move to come down the stairs. All Peter could do was shake his head and make a hasty dart to the elevator.
"Hello, Peter, how was your day?" FRIDAY asked as Peter nearly ran into the elevator. "Floor 3, Tony's lab, please." Peter sighed, sagging against the back wall and staring at the soft LED's in the ceiling. The door's seemed to stutter before closing. Even FRIDAY could tell something was wrong - usually Peter would jabber to her about all sorts of things.
Peter didn't have the heart to tell the AI he probably wouldn't be coming back here after this. Tony might never let him visit the compound again.
"You have reached your destination." FRIDAY said monotonely. She was mad at him, great. Peter sulked all the way down the long hallway that seemed to triple in length with every step.
"Peter." Peter nearly jumped out of his skin at Strange's voice beside him. The wizard was meditating in the air, and staring at Peter. "W-when did you get there?" Peter sputtered.
"Just a few seconds ago. I was informed by FRIDAY you had returned. I have her keep tabs on you for me, does that bother you? Anyways, where are you going looking so distraught?" The wizard lazily stood and dusted off his tunic. "I'm just going to Tony's lab. He wanted to talk to me." Peter explained, some of his mood chased away by the strange movements of Strange's cape. Pun intended.
"Oh, so he's finally going to open the door? He's got some kind of lock on it, not even I can go through." Strange didn't seem that concerned that Tony had barred himself in there. He also didn't seem concerned that this visit may lead to Peter being kicked out of the compound. "Oh. Well, I should probably go in... he called me, like, 17 times to schedule this 'meeting'." Peter tried not to sound scared and sad. He really did.
Strange side-eyed him suspiciously. "Alright... have fun." And with that he warped himself out. Never was good at dealing with moody teenagers, even as a surgeon.
Peter continued his walk of doom before reaching the lab. He raised his fist to knock, but the door slid open. Inside, was Tony, surrounded by blueprints and mechanisms and things. Peter immediately stumbled back as a sharp wave of pain hit him, making him dizzy. Tony looked up to see him, face drawn, and quickly secured the comet fragment he'd been studying in a weird device.
The pain disappeared as quickly as it came and Peter walked hesitantly into the disaster zone.
"Mr. Stark? You wanted to talk to me?" Not long ago, Tony had been joking about Peter being allowed to call him Dad. Now Peter feared Tony would never even speak to him again. He wouldn't even be allowed to become a real intern when he graduated.
What if Tony hated him?
"Yeah, Peter... come here." Tony stood and motioned for Peter to come farther into the lab. Peter squared his shoulders and walked in, ducking through the project displays.
"I wanted to tell you..."
"I'm sorry!" Peter blurted, cutting Tony off. "I'm sorry I'm bad at this, and I'm sorry I keep putting you guys in danger! I just wanted to do something good with my gift, but I keep failing. I understand if you want to kick me off the team, out of the compound, and never want to speak to me again. I understand if you hate me, even. But I promise if you just give me another chance I can be so much better, I won't screw everything up, I'll make you proud-"
"Peter!" Tony surged forward and wrapped Peter in a hug, squeezing him until Peter could barely breathe. "No, no, no! I didn't mean... I was supposed to be the one furiously apologizing." Tony laughed, pulling back and sitting Peter on one of the stools.
"Peter, through this entire summer, you've done nothing but make me proud. I defintely don't want to kick you off the team or anything like that and I could never hate you. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. You've gotten hurt because I'm not enough to protect you. I'm worried about you constantly because it seems no matter what I do, you get hurt. I don't know if it's safe for me to mentor you. I want to keep you safe." Tony croaked, his eyes stinging as he finally looked away from Peter's watery kicked-puppy eyes.
"Mr. Stark... Tony... I've never been really... safe. When I was five, my parents died. My dad was a scientist. For years people thought I might have some information about my dad's research. That's why my Aunt and Uncle had to take me in - everyone else wanted to use me. When I first got my powers..." Peter sniffled "I killed my uncle. He died because of me. I've always been a screw-up. I was forced upon my Aunt even after I caused her husband's death. Meeting you... it's the best thing that ever happened to me."
Tony hugged Peter again, and they were both crying.
I felt that was a good emotionally traumatizing place to leave it.
~Meow
YOU ARE READING
Believer
Fanfiction*Sequel to Survivor* It's summer time, and Peter couldn't be happier for school to be over! Except his life is about to get a whole lot more chaotic since he's staying at the compound while his Aunt is away (no she doesn't know, be quiet Bucky) and...
