Iron Dad One Shots (mcu)

My Best Friend, Spider-Man

A/N: Requested by @astroskypilot. I feel like apologizing for this being late makes me sound like a broken record, but I'm going to do it anyway. So... Sorry.

~

How Flash got involved, he'll never know. There were a few things, though, he knew for sure:

— Flash was cutting class.
— Flash was not the only one cutting class.
— Flash was definitely going to die at the hands of a giant robot monster if Spider-Man didn't do something.

Oh, shit.

Peter swung from the building he had been perched on towards the streets below, where a robotic humanoid monster was wreaking havoc in the city. Cars were turned over, large chunks of buildings were missing, and smoke wafted in the air from the carnage. The area was mostly cleared, sans a few people who were trapped near it or dumbasses that wanted to get closer.

Flash was one of those dumbasses. He had his phone out and was trying to get footage of the robot, for whatever reason. It was hard to see, but he could just barely make out an excited smile and bright eyes. Idiot.

Suddenly, the beast swiped at one of the buildings towering over them, causing a part of it to crumble. The debris fell, and Flash's face went from pure joy to terror.

Peter was off his feet in a minute. He shot a web to the building opposite the one he was on and swung himself down to Flash's level. The debris was inches away from his head when Spider-Man scooped him up bridal style and carried him away.

Instinctively, Flash's arms wrapped around Peter's neck and he buried his head into the spiderling's chest. His eyes were squeezed tight, and, more surprisingly, he was trembling.

Spider-Man wasn't unused to people, children and adults alike, in his arms trembling madly or racking with sobs. The world was a scary place, and sometimes people couldn't keep it together in front of him. Sometimes people weren't as brave as they thought.

And apparently, Flash was one of them.

Peter looked down again and the kid was crying. Crying. He didn't even know Flash could do that. Tears leaked out of his eyes and he sniffled, clearly trying to swallow down sobs.

"Hey, kid," Peter said, genuine care in his voice, "it's gonna be okay. You're safe now."

*

Flash was still on his mind, even after he'd changed out of the suit. The guy was just so... weird. He tormented Peter in school, made him afraid to show any emotion at all out of fear of being ridiculed, yet now... now he was the one crying. He'd shown so much weakness, more than he'd ever seen in him. It scared him.

Because Flash was human. Flash was just a kid.

He couldn't think about it much longer. If he did, he'd go crazy or something. He sat back in his bed and stared at the ceiling, hands folded behind his head. Whatever. This was one small thing. He'd forget about it the next day, anyway.

*

"What did you say to Flash?"

Peter paused his shuffling through crumpled up papers in his locker to glance at MJ. "Huh?"

"Flash. He's going around telling everyone that Spider-Man's his best friend."

Peter thought for a moment. Why would Flash...?

Oh.

"Oh, goddamnit."

"What?"

He buried his face in his hands and groaned. Not a good start to his day, not at all.