Mission P.S.

Written by Stawberryfiel

Chapter 4: The Treadmill

All rights belong to their rightfull owners.

...oOo...

Peter took a deep breath as he stepped into the Avengers Tower. His feets were moving forward, and crossed the black concrete floor of the reception, while his mind wondered what in god's name he was doing.

Was he actually about to intern for Stark himself?

It all seemed surreal to Peter, as he walked toward the elevator, and tried to compose himself. People walked past him, although none of them seemed to notice him, all too busy with their own life.

Peter noticed the security seemed rather low, but then again, the Avengers lived here, and Tony's AI probably kept an eye on everything.

Peter looked down at himself, and wondered once more if he should have dressed more properly. His Aunt had tried to convince to wear a suit this morning, but Peter had denied, as he had to go to school first… but now he regretted. Tony Stark had after all worn a suit yesterday.

And Peter was just wearing a green hoodie and grey jeans. Of course with his outworn favorite sneakers, and his blue backpack. But it wasn't very formal, and Peter wondered what Tony Stark would think of it… but there wasn't much he could do about it. And someone would have laughed if he had worn a suit to school.

But he still rubbed his hands nervously together as he got toward the elevator. Mr. Stark had just said he should show up after school, so Peter wasn't sure whenever he was late or early, but he still walked in a normal pace.

And the elevator opened on it's own as he reached it, and as the only person Peter stepped into it.

"Greetings Mr. Parker," someone greeted from above, and Peter almost jumped out of his skin, until he realized it was Tony's AI Jarvis. Tony himself had mentioned it yesterday, and Peter had read several articles about it, mostly published in the science magazines he kept.

"Oh… hello, Jarvis isn't it," Peter asked, and smiled, although he didn't know to whom. The AI was everywhere.

"It is," Jarvis answered, as the elevator began to move upwards.

"Well uhm, it's Peter Parker here," Peter said, but then realized that the AI already knew that. It had greeted him by his name afterall. "So uhm, Mr. Stark just said that i should ask you to bring me to him…" Peter trailed off, not sure what he should say to the AI. But he had no idea where in the building Tony Stark was, or what floors he had access too.

"I know Mr. Parker, he is in the gym right now, which is where i am taking you," Jarvis answered in his cool calm voice, and Peter nodded, just as the elevator stopped with a bing, and the door opened.

In front of Peter was a hallway, which was rather bare, with concrete floor and white walls. No plants, no windows, just a lot of light from the lamps above, and three doors on each side. And then a door at the end. All painted navy blue.

"The gym is located at the end Mr. Parker," The AI told him, and Peter just nodded, as he took a deep breath while he began to walk toward the door.

His Aunt had been so excited when she heard he had gotten a internship. And to be Tony Stark's personal intern… well her nephew must have made an impression. She had been so happy Peter had forgotten how nervous he was, not to mention Ned who almost passed out in excitement. And talked of Peter as if he was the coolest person on earth

But right now Peter felt anything but cool. He felt horrified, and although he had med Tony once, it didn't sooth his nerves. Because perhaps the genius had changed his mind? Which Peter almost hoped, as his feet dragged him toward the door.

However he never got to open the door himself, as it was flung open, and Tony grabbed his hand and dragged him inside… while Peter made a few sounds in protest, as he was a bit surprised.

"There you are," Tony smiled, and dragged him into a large gym. "I was starting to wonder if you weren't going to make it," he smiled, and patted Peters shoulder. He had truly started to worry, and when Jarvis had proclaimed he was in the building, Tony had almost been jumping up and down in excitement.

"Sorry Mr. Stark… i didn't catch the first metro," Peter apologized, and began to wonder if he actually was late after all?

"Never mind, you are here now," Tony smiled, and started to drag Peter into the room. "If you want to, i can just have Happy pick you up after school?" Tony suggested, and went over to look in different boxes.

"Happy?" Peter asked a bit confused, as he hadn't heard of a Happy before…

"Yeah, my driver, bodyguard and general life saver," Tony explained, still rummaging through some boxes.

"Oh… uhm, well thank you Mr. Stark, but i can get here myself," Peter told him, slightly nervous, and began to wonder why they were in the gym.

It was a rather huge place. With concrete floors and white walls like the hallway, but at the end there was a huge window that filled out the whole wall, and brought some light into the room. The place had everything from punching bags, heavy weights and treadmills. And one wall was covered in mirrors, which made the already large room seem even larger.

Not to mention all the weapons Peter spotted on one wall…

"Well if you are sure kid," Tony smiled, and turned around, his arms filled with boxing gloves.

"I am sure…" Peter muttered, and began to wonder a bit, as he eyed Tony's clothing. "Mr. Stark, what are we going to do in here?" he asked, and began to feel a bit unsure… he wasn't a fan of gyms.

"Call me Tony please, i am too young for those formalities," Tony told him with another smile, and gave Peter a pair of red boxing gloves. "And we are going to train of course, i need someone to spare with," Tony lied, and saw the sceptical look Peter gave the gloves.

Tony had thought long and hard about how he should tire Peter out, and had come to the conclusion that a bit of training each day wouldn't hurt… and he had to get in shape too. Pepper was starting to call him weak. He had always prefered boxing himself, mixed with some taekwondo now and then, and he felt it was a good thing to give on to Peter. He was fighting crime in the streets anyway, and Peter had more than once just been lucky… the boy needed some skills too.

"I don't know anything about boxing!" Peter tried to protest, and tried to give the gloves back. "I don't see how i am able to assist you with this Mr. Stark, i am really sorry…"

"Nonsense," Tony interrupted before Peter got cold feet. "I didn't expect you to know anything, but i will show you… come one, it will be fun," he smiled, as he placed a hand on his shoulder, as he got him further into the room. "It's important to be able to defend yourself… now let's start with a warm up on the treadmill," Tony decided, and led him over to the the row of treadmills.

Peter was a bit confused, as he was pretty sure training wasn't a part of a normal internship… at least not this kind of training. But he was too confused to argue, and removed his hoodie, before he stepped up on the treadmill. Truth to be told due to his spider thing, he was faster than most men, and had more energy than one would think. But because he had been shit at gym before the spider thing, he couldn't exactly show it off.

But Tony knew more than he thought.

"All right, let's just get this one up to a nice pace," Tony smiled, and began to push several buttons on Peters treadmill, which woke up to life, and began to move, faster and faster. Peter quickly had to run, rather fast, and he looked over at Tony, and realized he wasn't running nearly as fast as him.

"Hey, aren't you going on the same level as i?" He asked, still with a rather normal voice, but his breathing began to pick up slightly.

"You are far younger than me, you can do it faster!" Tony insisted, and yelled slightly, as the treadmills were starting to be rather noisy. He even turned Peters treadmill up a notch, just to provoke him a bit, as he send him a charming smile.

And Peter sighed, and focused on running instead. He hadn't run like this in a long time, and after some minutes his legs began to complain slightly, but he pushed himself on, as this was what Mr. Stark wanted him to do. Although this was the weirdest start he could imagine.

And soon Peter simply just blocked everything out, and focused entirely on running. It felt good in a way, although he also felt a bit tired after twenty minutes, as Tony had set it on a rather high level, even for Spiderman.

And soon he looked up for the first time, and realized Tony wasn't running anymore. No he was sitting in front of him, staring at his phone, while he had left Peter to run. Peter wondered why he hadn't said anything, and stopped the treadmill immediately… if Tony wasn't running, he wasn't going to run either.

"You could have said we stopped," he said, not irritated, but just slightly confused as to why they were training in the first place.

"Oh sorry kid, you seemed like you were in a good training zone, i didn't want to break it," Tony lied, as he placed his phone in his pocket, and gave Peter a towel as the treadmill slowed down. Peters clothing was already covered in sweat, and Peter began to fear he had to wear this for the rest of the day… he would have to pack some training clothing for tomorrow.

"Thanks," he muttered, as he took the towel, and dried the sweat of his forehead and neck.

"Your welcome, now get your gloves on kiddo!" Tony told him, and gave him the red gloves once more.

In the end Tony had to help Peter a bit, as he was rather lost as to how he should get them one, mostly due to the fact he had no experience with this. He then followed Tony toward a punching bag, with an ironman logo in the middle… and Peter wondered how much Tony had paid for that.

"Well kid… show me what you got," Tony said, as he placed himself so he could keep the bag still while Peter hit it.

"What i got sir?" Peter asked slightly confused… he had never hit anyone or anything like this. He had hit several bad guys, but never while he had thought about how… it was just something he did.

"Yeah… you know give the bag a good punch, show it who the leader is," Tony said, and realized his son truly knew nothing about fighting… and he protected the streets at night?

"Okay…" Peter muttered slightly confused, and then hit the bag with a small thud…

"What no, you have to use your whole body!" Tony sighed, and moved a bit. "Here see, you have to turn your torso like this, and place your front leg here," he said, and then he took a small breath, before he hit the bag with all he had, and it looked far better than what Peter did just moment ago.

"Wow… okay," muttered Peter, unsure what he had said yes to.

"Here, now try," Tony said, and helped him into position. "And remember to use your whole body, not just your arms," he reminded him, and held the bag once more, as Peter prepared himself to hit it.

And this time he put far more force into it, and although Tony managed to hold onto the bag, it almost knocked him over.

"Yes! There you go!" Tony smiled proudly. "One more time!" he urged, and held it for him again.

And so they continued, both rather caught up in the moment, as they took turns with the punching bag. Tony had this rather strange feeling in his chest, it was a good feeling, but he wasn't sure as to what he should call it… but it made him happy. It made him happy to see how good Peter actually was at something, if only he was guided a bit, and a huge smile was plastered in his face.

And Peter had a great time too. The fear he felt in the beginning quickly vanished as he realized it was a great deal of fun, while Tony taught him different kind of punches, and how to block an attack. In his head he also found this rather useful for Spiderman, as he could use some of these movements when he got into a fight.

What he didn't know was that his muscles would be rather sore after all of this training, and his body would be exhausted at the end of today. Because while Tony also had to participate and train, he made sure Peter trained the most, and he pushed him as far out as he could.

And an hour later sweat was dripping down Peters back and spine, and his hair felt wet, as they stretched out. He had to admit to himself that it had been a great deal of fun, but his clothes were sticking to his skin, and he generally didn't smell that good.

Tony noticed Peters rather wet clothing too, and smiled a bit to himself, as he knew Peter was about to reach a point where he was tired enough for the training to stop. Tony still had a lot of tasks for him, but it seemed like he had taken the top of Peters energy .

"Alright i think we both should take a quick shower… you reek!" Tony teased, as he stood up, and took a sip of water from his bottle. "Anyway there should be some spare clothing in the bathroom over there you can use," he told, and pointed to a door in the corner, which led to a bathroom with a shower no one really used. "Jarvis can tell you where it is," he added, as he was about to go up and shower in his own bathroom.

"Oh, thanks," Peter smiled, and didn't have much energy for conversation.

"Sure thing, oh and when you are done get me a black coffee from Starbuck!" Tony added, and fished a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet, which he gave Peter. "And buy something for yourself if you find anything you want," he said, and Peter just nodded… his mind far too tired to talk at the moment. Much to Tony's delight.

After that Tony left to go shower and change, while Peter went to the bathroom Tony had pointed out. He quickly found a pair of pant that seemed to be somewhere his size, and clean underwear and socks, along with an ironman t-shirt, which was the only one Peter could find that fitted him. And he wondered if that was a coincidence?

And after a quick shower, he stuffed his old sweaty clothing into his bag, and changed into the cloth… which looked somewhere okay, although the pants were a bit tight, but it was working.

His hair was left damp and messy as it was, as he took his bag over his shoulder, and went out to find a Starbuck coffee shop. As Tony specifically had asked for that, and Peter wasn't about to mess that up. What Tony had failed to mention was that there was a Star Buck in the tower.

Which Peter didn't discover before he had walked four streets down, and waited in line for ten minutes, and brought the coffee back… only to walk right past an almost empty Starbuck, just in the center of the main reception on the ground floor.

"Just great…" Peter sighed, and walked into the elevator, where Jarvis without a word brought him up to floor 56. Peter couldn't see where he was, but there was only one door in front of him, and through the glass he could see this amazing workshop on the other side…

It contained everything a boy at his age could dream off, everything build in concrete steel and glass, and Peter spotted a few Iron Man suits, which just seemed to stare at him. If there was a heaven Peter was pretty sure it would look like this. However, while the gym had a large window, this didn't seem to have any windows at all. Probably to protect Mr. Starks ideas.

Slowly Peter grabbed the handle of the door, pulled it downwards, and stepped inside. Normally it wasn't open, but Tony had asked for Jarvis to keep it open until Peter had stepped inside.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter called a bit confused, unsure as to where the genius was. He still had his burning warm coffee in his hands, which he placed on the nearest tabel, along with the exchange money, and slowly began to take a look around. He wouldn't dare touch anything, but he was curious, and there was so many exciting things to look at… and not just Iron man suits. Peter spotted the new Starktech phone on one table, along with a tablet he hadn't seen before.

And on another table was some pretty awesome knives and arrows, which Peter guessed was for Hawkeye and Black widow. His Spiderman costume actually faded a bit compared to all of this, but he had to remind himself he wasn't a billionaire like Mr. Stark.

At the far end of the room, Peter noticed a different looking iron man suit, and he couldn't help himself but walk toward it. It was far bigger and bulkier than the others, and didn't look nearly as elegant and sleek. Actually it seemed like it was quite simple, and had been through a bit before it ended up behind a glass montra.

Peter looked down at the bottom, and saw a name had been written on a sign, saying Mark I, and Peter began to realized this had to be the first ironman suit… which was quite amazing.

"It saved my ass in afghanistan," Tony said from behind him, and Peter spun around with a gasp, as he hadn't heard the man enter, or seen him anywhere in the workshop. Tony was leaning against the nearest tabel, watching Peter with a smirk, as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh… you gave me shock...god," Peter gasped, and tried to get his breath again. "Where were you, i couldn't find you?" he asked, and noticed Tony's hair was damp too. The man had changed into a pair of jeans, and an old ACDC t-shirt, which made Peter feel slightly more relaxed about his own clothing.

"Upstairs in the shower," Tony smiled. "I didn't know you would be that fast, but i just asked Jarvis to send you up here while I finished," he said, and took another sip of the coffee. "But may I say, this coffee is burning hot,"

"Well i am glad to hear that… I almost ran back with it so it wouldn't get cold," Peter sighed, and still tried to catch his breath. "But you could have said there was a starbucks in the building," he said, and although he wasn't angry about it, he was a bit annoyed.

"Oh sorry my bad," Tony smiled… but he had totally forgot to mention that part of purpose.

"Yeah… well i know now," Peter sighed.

"Yeah, but let's get going, come on kid, i got a few things my intern is going to need," Tony said, and showed him over to a different table, which contained all sorts of electronic gadgets… and Peter began to feel slightly excited.

"So give me your phone," Tony ordered, as he began to rummaged through all the things on the table, while Peter without question pulled out his own old half damaged Starktech phone. Tony didn't say anything, but he gave it a doubting look, before he with a few cables connected it to all sorts of things, and Peter could see on a screen at the table that it was loading stuff.

"What are you exactly doing?" Peter asked a bit unsure, as he suddenly regretted how he just handed his phone over. There was nothing on it Tony couldn't see, but he would still like to know what the man was doing with it.

"Transfering all of your content from your old phone to your new phone, i can't have my intern using something i made five years ago," Tony explained, like it was logic. "Now come here, stand right here," Tony ordered him, and placed Peter so he was staring straight into the computer screen. "I am going to give you full access to all floors, including the top floors reserved for the Avengers, and my private floor, but that requires face recognition," Tony explained, and as Peter turned his head to the side to look at Tony, Tony grabbed his chin and pointed it toward the camera. "So look toward Jarvis, and smile," he said.

"You really don't have to give me access to all of those things," Peter tried to protest, while he stared at the screen, unsure what else he should do. Peter would actually rather not have access to those floors, as he couldn't see what he should do with it.

"Nonsense, you might need to get me something, or deliver something for me," Tony said.

"Face recognition complete," Jarvis informed them, and Tony grabbed a tablet from the table.

"We need your fingerprint too, those two things will give you access," he explained, and without asking he simply grabbed Peters thumb, and pressed it against the screen, which made a quick scan. Peter was beginning to give up, and didn't see any reason to protest… Tony would do it anyway.

A quick beeb made it clear the scanning was done, and Peter was now registered.

"There you go," Tony smiled, and Peter just nodded… unsure what he should say. Sometimes it seemed like Tony couldn't read people very well, or also he just didn't care… no matter what things was going far too quickly for Peter to follow. Not that he could do anything about.

"Thanks…" Peter said slowly, unsure what else he should say.

"Don't thank me yet," Tony warned him, as the loading on the screen finished, and he unplugged Peters old phone. He would prefer to simply throw it out, but instead he gave it back to Peter. "This is of course your old phone, however from now on I want you to use this," Tony told him, and showed him the newest Starktech phone, which had yet to reach the market.

"Sir… i can't take that," Peter tried to protest, as he had a hard time accepting gifts from others.

"Please, i insist," Tony pressed him, and placed the phone in his hand. "It's the newest phone, and you need to be updated tech wise to be in this building. And it has all of your old information installed, including new things… like my phone number," Tony explained to him, and flashed a smile. "Not to mention Jarvis is in it too, in case you need anything. Say hello Jarvis," Tony ordered.

"Hello Mr. Parker," Jarvis said out of the speakers on the phone.

"Look… it's really nice of you, but i am a teen, i will crash this phone in a matter of weeks," Peter tried to excuse himself, and held his old phone up to prove it. With his Spiderman duties it was bound to be destroyed at some point.

"Nonsense," Tony huffed… no one could destroy his newest invention. "It's made of far stronger material, you will have no problem kiddo. Now i won't take it back, so put it in your pocket, and use it as much as you like. It's a gift," he smiled, and couldn't resist as he ruffled Peters hair slightly.

"I doubt I will win this argument anyway…" Peter sighed, and stared at this new phone. It was a really nice gesture, but he was so afraid he would ruin it in some way. Although it was cool to have Jarvis build into it.

"You won't, so suck it up," Tony said with a triumphant smile.

However, there was a few things Peter didn't know about the phone. One of them was the fact that Tony had installed a rather strong GPS in his phone. There was already one he could trace in Peter old phone, but this one was far stronger, so should he be in the middle of the desert, Tony would still be able to find it. Also, with Jarvis installed, Tony had a better view of what he did as Spiderman, and when, and Jarvis could warn Tony if Peter was in danger. Jarvis was not supposed to record every part of Peter's life, the boy deserved privacy, but he had installed Jarvis to warn Tony of any danger.

"Now," Tony said, and had to move on with today's program. "I expect you to be here each day after school, unless you are sick… and i think we should be a bit loose about when you leave. As long as your tasks are done," Tony said, and Peter just nodded. May didn't have any problem with when he got home, as she was rather used to Peter showing up at strange hours.

"Sure," Peter agreed.

"Good then," Tony said, and clapped his hands together. "Now i need to work on a few different things right now, and while i do that, i would like for you to clean up all the metal scraps over there," Tony said, and pointed toward a huge pile of metal pieces, which Tony had been too lazy to do anything about. "It all needs to go to floor 6, where the recycling department is. Get it down there, and they will tell you what to do," Tony explained.

And without any complaints Peter began to work. Honestly he was just glad Tony had give him a task he could manage, as he had feared all sorts of scenarios, but he could lift heavy things, drag them to the elevator, and drag them to the right bunk at floor 6. It was easy enough to understand, however it turned out to be a rather tiring task, as there was more than Peter first thought, and some of it was rather heavy.

So up and down he went for almost one and a half hour, before he finally had dragged all of the metal scraps away. Which left some empty space in Tony's workshop, not that i could be seen, as there was such a huge mess everywhere.

However Tony wasn't done, and began to send Peter around to different floors, with papers that needed to be delivered, and notes he needed from other departments. At last Peter felt like he had been on every single floor, and sweat was dripping down his forehead from dragging all of that metal from the workshop to floor 6. His body felt tired and worn out, and he had already agreed with himself that there would be no spiderman tonight. He was far too tired to make a difference.

Which meant that Tony's plan had worked for tonight.

"All done sir!" Peter reported, a bit short of breath, as he stepped into Tony's workshop. Tony was sitting at one of his many tables, in the middle of programming something, while things seemed to work on their own in the background.

"Great kid…" Tony muttered, as he typed the last things into the machine, before he looked up at the boy. He did indeed look tired, and Tony knew he had worn him out for today. He could see how tired his face seemed, almost zombie like. "So, how do you feel about chinese food?" Tony asked, as he stood up, and grabbed the dark blazar that hung on his chair.

"Uhmm… fine sir," Peter said. He knew Mr. Stark had asked him to call him Tony, but it just didn't seem right. Peter didn't feel like sir or Mr. Stark seemed right either, but he wasn't sure what else to call the man.

"Good, want to go eat with me? Or does your aunt expect you to eat at home?" Tony asked, and Peter's eyes widened in surprise. Did the genius and his idol just ask if he wanted to eat chinese food with him?

"I… uhm… no, my aunt doesn't expect me to be home…" Peter finally managed to say, and Tony lit into a smile, as he nodded and began to walk toward the elevator. Peter following along like a lost puppy.

"Good, let's go then. I know this place where we should be able to be seated in private, and they have the best orange chicken in town!" Tony told excited, as the elevator opened, and they stepped inside. Peter hadn't exactly said yes to eating with him, but he hadn't said no either, and his eyes told Tony everything.

"Great…" Peter smiled, unsure what else to say. He quickly grabbed his new phone, and sent a text off to Aunt May that he would be eating with Mr. Stark, so she wouldn't worry too much about him. She had worried enough recently, and for once he had an good excuse as to why he couldn't make it for supper.

"Yeah, i must admit the place is a bit dark and wired, but they really understand what good food is… and they know what discretion means." Tony continued to talk, suddenly afraid of the awkward silence. He usually wasn't this chatty with everyone, but he truly wanted to impress Peter and make him want to stay, and therefore he was acting completely different.

At that moment they arrived in Tony's personal garage, filled with all of his greatest cars. Tony just continued to walk toward the nearest car, his mercedes, which was slightly more casual than the rest. However he quickly realized Peter wasn't following him, as he had stopped, and was just staring at the cars.

And they were impressive. Tony owed everything from racing cars to motorcycles, as long as it had speed and looked impressive Tony would pay. He had tuned most of them himself, and customize them. However it was normal for Tony to look at them, while Peter hadn't seen anything like this in his entire life.

"Have you been taught how to drive yet kiddo?" Tony asked, and couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips. Peter was rather cute when he got excited or impressed.

"Yeah… but i am not very good at it…" Peter muttered, still staring down the concrete room, rows of shining cars reflecting him.

"Oh, well some day you can try one of them," Tony promised, and opened the door to his side of the car. "Now come on, I am starving!" he teased, and Peter immediately jumped into action, and got into the passenger seat.

Tony already knew the kid had failed his driving test several times before he passed, and was exceptionally bad at driving for some reason. However he still had to ask, or Peter might get suspicious, and Tony wondered if he should take it upon himself to teach the kid how to drive. Because from what he had gathered, he was still horrible at it.

The drive to the restaurant went easy and smooth… or as smooth as it could go with New Yorks traffic. But finally the arravived, and Tony parked, before they went into the small restaurant. It didn't have more than ten tables, and was a narrow little place, with sticky tables and and fake red leather seats. Someone had placed a few objects that was supposed to make the place seemed chinese, but Tony knew the owner, who had never set a foot in China. But the food was good.

And as they had been seated, and the food had been ordered, an awkward silence appeared for a moment. Peter didn't know what he should ask about, he was still far too starstruck to say much, and ended up looking at his hands instead. He really liked Mr. Stark, truly, but he had a hard time thinking of a topic which wouldn't make him sound like a huge fan.

And Tony, Tony had a thousand questions, but it was hard to find a good place to start. Yet he had to try.

"So… you live with your Aunt?" Tony asked, as he sipped on his coke. Of course he already knew this. His Aunt wasn't really his aunt, but her name was May, she was 65 years old, and had taken care of Peter since he was five. Tony knew everything there was to know about this lady, as he had run a rather thorough security check on her.

"Yeah… her name is May, i have lived with her since i was five. Her and Ben really, but well, you know, he died," Peter smiled sadly, and wondered why Mr. Stark took such a huge interest in his life. Or perhaps he was just being polite.

"I know... " Tony nodded. "It sucks when you lose a family member," he said, as he himself had lost his father and mother at a very young age. His father and him had always had a strange relationship, which never really worked out… but his mother, when she died, his heart was crushed.

"Yeah… i mean my mom and dad died when i was five. But i wasn't really old enough to understand it. But when Ben died… i really felt like my father died there," Peter told sadly, his eyes staring at the sticky table. He wasn't sure why he was telling Mr. Stark any of this, as he didn't take him as being the emotional type.

"May i ask how they died?" Tony asked, and wasn't going to comment on the whole dead father thing. As Peter's father actually was very much alive. But he couldn't tell him that.

That, and he had always been curious as to how Mary and Richard died. There had never been any details about the accident, or a reason for the two of them to be on the plane, yet they were. And he hoped Peter had some kind of intel on it.

"They were on a plane, and it crashed… everyone died. Or that's at least what i have been told. Back then i couldn't really understand it…" Peter explained, a bit unsure. May and Ben had never talked much about it, as Peter as a kid freaked out each time they talked about the subject. And as he got older he had put it behind him. But now he was starting to question a lot of things, including his birth certificate, which he hadn't forgotten yet.

"Do you recall why they were going to fly in the first place?" Tony asked, although he knew the question was a bit rude. He should actually show his sympathy instead, but he was too curious.

"No… not really. I just recall it was a very strange night, where they suddenly started packing, and i was dropped off at May and Ben's house." Peter said, as he tried to recall the few things he could… although it was glimpse. He could barely remember what his parents looked like. "They promised they would be back soon… but that obviously never happened," Peter muttered, mostly to himself, and Tony could sense the subject was becoming too much for Peter to handle.

"I am sorry kid… I know how it feels when your family is ripped away from you," Tony said, and almost wanted to hug Peter, but knew Peter would find that uncomfortable.

"Yeah… thankfully i can't remember that much. I imagine it must have been worse for you," Peter answered, and put a small but brave smile on his lips, as he pushed the bad feelings away.

"Well… it was horrible, but time heals all wounds," Tony smiled. "And today, it doesn't affect me that much."

"But is that all you can do… wait?" Peter asked, and he almost sounded annoyed. Truth to be told he still missed Ben terribly. There was a place inside him that felt empty and dark, and the thought of just waiting sounded horrible.

"Well… honestly, yeah," Tony nodded, and stared intensely into Peters brown eyes. "But, it isn't just time. At some point you will meet someone, who is going to fill the void inside you, and it makes it easier to move on,"

And for Tony, Peter had been the one who filled that void. Although he had been far away, he had give Tony a reason to live, and a reason to become a better person. Tony could never tell him that, but the tiny kid had in his own way changed him, and helped him move on.

"Well… i suppose i better find that person then…" Peter muttered, while the wheels in his brain began to work.

Because what Tony didn't know was that he had started a ticking bomb. Because Peter was beginning to think about his biological dad once more, and if he after all should start investigating. He wasn't sure that person every would be able to fill the void Ben had left, but it would occupy his mind for a bit, and perhaps help him move on.

And with one sentence, Tony had just added to his own pile of problems. But didn't know that for now.

...oOo...

So this was basicly a chapter for Tony and Peter to bond a bit. However, i would like to hear which Avenger you would like for Peter to meet next, and how? In my story Scarlet Witch, Vision and so on does not exist. At least not yet. So the choice i between Bruce Banner, Natasha, Steve Rogers, Clint and Thor! ;)

Please review, it makes my day to hear from you guys.