Believer

27. End

Hey guys!!! Wow, gosh, it's been so long since I started Survivor, I honestly did not think I would make it this far! And I'm even more surprised, and delighted, that all of you did! Thank you for coming on this adventure with me and the Avengers (Yes the lovely fictional people I torture) and it's going to be a hard goodbye! I won't draw this out, as I have more to say at the end.

The last day before school started had finally came. Peter had a great time with Ned and MJ the last few weekends and a lovely reunion with May. It had been hard going back home - the apartment was so much quieter than the compound - and saying goodbye to Peter's... well... his family.

But he still saw them every weekend and they picked him up from school on fridays, so he wasn't going to miss them too much.

As for the threat of HYDRA - they never showed up again. For some reason, Steve found that more worrying than an all-out attack. They'd put a lot of effort into that comet, and who knew what else they'd been doing, only to give up? It seemed to good to be true. Peter, for one, decided not to let that bother him.

Now it was his last free day, and he spent it back-to-school shopping with Tony. The billionare was rather indulgent of Peter, and even if the web-slinger insisted something was too expensive, Tony bought it as soon as Peter's back was turned.

Peter had the coolest back-to-school things he'd ever had! A graphing calculator, a new backpack, 4 new binders (each subltey Avengers themed), a pencil case - soon fully stocked - and a vibranium metal water bottle.

Then they went down to the pier for ice-cream and Peter told Tony all about his classes for the year. He was taking chemistry, physics and biology, as well as calculus and trig. No study blocks. While Tony was impressed, he chastised Peter on his lack of concern for his stress-levels.

Peter then spent the rest of the evening with Ned, building the Lego Star Destroyer to complete their collections.

"So, what, is Tony basically your Dad now?" Ned joked, and Peter threw a lego piece at him that hit him in the head. "He's my mentor, not my..." Peter swallowed, mind hovering over the conversation they'd had near the beginning of the summer about Peter calling him Mr. Stark. Peter tried to ignore it, but the subject stuck in the back of his mind for days.

Little did he know, a similar thing had happened at the compound.

"You took Peter back to school shopping? What are you, his Dad?" Sam had said, all in fun. It had been meant as a joke, but not taken as one. "I am not!" Tony yelled back, FRIDAY warning him about blood pressure levels. "Don't get me wrong, Peter's a great kid and has a pure heart and he's sweet and impressionable or whatever but I would never take advantage of his lack of a father by... I don't know! Just, leave me alone!" Tony stormed out of the sitting room, leaving the others in shock.

They all looked at Sam accusatorily. "What?!"

The whole issue came to a climax the first Friday after school started, that very week, in fact. Happy came to pick up Peter, who was very tired and began to see what Tony had been saying about stress levels. AP classes and late-night patrols did not mix.

"You ok, kid?" Happy asked absently as they drove. It was Happy's way of asking him how his day was, while also asking him how his Spiderman-ing was going. 'You ok' really meant 'how was your day, and your week, have you been getting enough sleep? Also are you hurt cause I'm going to have to call that in and Tony will not be impressed'.

"Yeah, good. Really tired though. Everyone at school mentioned my waterbottle, MJ wanted to take a sample for chemistry class but I had to decline." Peter chuckled, referring to the dark metal bottle in the sling on his back pack.

When they reached the compound, all the Avengers were waiting to greet Peter. Who knew they were going to miss him just as much as he missed them? He got endless questions about school (is Flash still bullying you? Ned was probably keeping them updated anyways) and if anything interesting had happened that week in Queens. Thankfully, the criminals seemed to be pretty tired as well.

After an hour of chatting, Tony comandered Peter for 'lab-work' where he conducted his own 'how was your week' interrogation. They did work on some projects, including one of Tony's new suits, and quickly lost track of time.

It was about 11 when Peter finally fell asleep. At first, Tony didn't notice. It was closer to midnight when he finally looked at the clock. "Oh boy, it's a little past your curfew, hey kid?" Tony spun around to find Peter slumped over his desk. Tony shook his head, bemused, before going to wake him up.

Tony hated when Peter had to leave. He didn't want to admit it, but a piece of his heart always went with him.

"Hey, underoos. Peter, wake up." Tony shook his shoulder and Peter blinked groggily. "Oh... did I... fall 'sleep?" Peter slurred, blinking at the table for a few seconds.

"You betcha! Don't look so embarrased; Happy won't be bothered at all to drive you home and you can come back and finish tomorrow." Peter nodded and started to slowly collect his things. Tony finally gave in and helped, which finally ended in Tony zipping up the backpack and manually putting it on Peter. He was still mostly asleep as he turned for the door.

"And don't forget to give your Aunt a call, and remember your door is the third one on the left, May's been telling me about the complaints she's been getting from your elderly neighbour Marge. Apparently everytime you fumble to get in she thinks its a burgalur. Third one on the left." Tony reminded. Peter gave a half hearted salute accompanied by a yawn.

"Thanks, Dad."

Both parties froze, and the moment Peter realized his mistake - more by the look on Tony's face than anything - he was suddenly completely awake and his brain was in overdrive. His body was frozen, hand suspended in the air, eyes wide in shock.

What should he do? Take it back? Run? Maybe if he jumped out the window he could land with enough force to kill himself...

"You're welcome," Tony's face broke into a grin and he pulled Peter into a hug, trying to wrap up all the gangly limbs that made up the 16-year-old in one bone crushing squeeze,

"son."

And that's... almost where I leave ya!

First things first; this was based on a comic I saw on Pinterest. As I am too lazy to track down said comic all I can say is full credit to the artist and... thank you?

Second things second; PSYCHE

THERE WILL BE ONE MORE CHAPTER TO TIE IN INFINITY WAR AND WHAT HAPPENED WITH LOKI AND EVERYTHING SOOOOO YEAH IT'LL BE SHORT THO

Love everybody!!!

~ Meow