Peter groaned as F.R.I.D.A.Y. blared his alarm for third time that morning.

"Snooze F.R.I.D.A.Y." He mumbled into his pillow. Damn. Getting up at 6:30am was rough when Peter had gotten used to sleeping in past 9am.

"The chance of you making it to school on time is significantly decreasing." F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded but the alarm turned off. Peter couldn't bring himself to care. He wanted more sleep. A minute later his door clicked open.

"I'm all for being fashionably late kiddo, but maybe not on the first day of school." Tony's voice cut through the sleepy haze.

"Tired." Peter complained into his pillow as he felt the man sit down on the edge of his bed.

"Normal tired or tired as in you're not feeling up to this yet?" Tony asked.

"Normal tired." Peter answered.

"That's what you get for staying up so late." Peter could hear the judgment in his voice.

"It wasn't that late." Peter protested.

"Uh-huh." Tony said skeptically and then a second later the covers were being ripped off him. "Time to get up."

Peter groaned and curled up in a ball as the cool air assaulted him.

"Let's go." Tony said and then hands grabbed him under the armpits and started pulling him out of bed so his legs slid to the ground and he had no choice but to stand. He sighed and rubbed his eyes as Tony manhandled him to the bathroom.

"We're leaving in twenty minutes." Tony warned as Peter slowly reached for his toothbrush, still barely awake.

Luckily, the shower finally woke him up. Afterwards, he hurried to get dressed in jeans and one of his typical science pun t-shirts. He shouldered his backpack and made it out to the living room just in time.

"You'll have to eat in the car." Tony said as he hunted through the cabinets and the fridge and pulled out a banana, a granola bar, and a yogurt.

"Here. We've got to go." Tony said as he handed him the food items and then led him to the elevator. He seemed a little flustered.

"You don't have to drive me. I mean I could drive myself or take a cab or the subway or something." Peter offered.

"I'm driving you." Tony said decisively.

The elevator took them to the underground garage and Peter followed Tony to one of his favorite, most expensive Audi's. Peter eyed its characteristic Stark license plate as he walked over to it. Tony had some numbered variation of the plate on all of his cars.

"Get in." Tony commanded when Peter paused at the passenger door.

"Um isn't this a little too flashy?"

"What?"

"People are going to notice if you drop me off in this car." Peter explained.

Tony considered the words for a few seconds.

"Right." His dad ran a hand through his hair and glanced around the garage. "We'll take your car."

"Ok, but if you get even one scratch on it…" Peter joked as they walked over to his car. It was the most discrete car in the garage and the license plate didn't say Stark. It was just a normal New York plate.

Tony smirked at the comment and climbed in. Peter followed and hurried to chow down his breakfast. Tony got him to his school with ten minutes to spare.

"You sure you have everything?" Tony asked after he stopped the car at the curb in front of the school and Peter started pulling his backpack up from by his feet.

"Um…" Peter thought about it for a second. He thought he did. Oh wait. Shit. He'd forgotten to pack a lunch. And he had exactly two dollars in his wallet. Not enough to buy lunch. Maybe he could bum some money from Ned.

"What? What'd you forget?" Tony read the dismay on his face.

"My lunch." Peter admitted.

"You can buy lunch right?" Tony asked.

"Yeah." Peter confirmed with a frown.

Tony shifted on the seat and fished out his wallet from his back pocket. He opened it and grabbed a bill and handed it to Peter. "Here."

Peter took it and gaped. It was a crisp $100 bill.

"This is too much." Peter argued and tried to hand it back. "I only need like ten dollars."

"Take it." Tony said as he put his wallet back. "I don't carry small bills kid. Just keep the change."

That's right. Tony was a billionaire. A hundred dollars was probably nothing to him but it was a lot of money to Peter.

"Um thanks." Peter said appreciatively as he tucked the bill in his pocket.

"All right. You good?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. Remember you can call or text me if you need to duck out early." Tony offered. In other words if Peter got too tired to make it through the day. He really didn't think that'd be a problem.

"I'll be fine." Peter rolled his eyes and reached for the door.

"What? I don't get a good-bye hug?" Tony joked with fake hurt.

Peter sighed at the dramatics but turned back around and leaned over to wrap his arms around his dad.

"Have a good day today." Tony squeezed him back before releasing him.

"I will." Peter smiled at him and pulled at the door handle.

"Happy will be here at 3pm sharp to pick you up. I have some meetings this afternoon but I should be home by 5pm."

"Ok."

"Ok. Love you kiddo."

"Love you too." Peter answered and flashed another smile at Tony before closing the door behind him and swiftly walking away. He didn't want to be late.

He noticed Ned standing at the foot of the stairs in the spot where they usually met each other before school. He started walking over to him and was suddenly struck by the absolute normality of it. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd felt normal. Like his old self. Like his life hadn't been completely flipped upside down this past summer. The last time he'd met Ned on the stairs at school May had still been alive and he hadn't even spoken to Tony in months. Now she was dead and Tony was his dad. But Peter's school routine remained the same. He struggled to wrap his head around it.

"Hey Peter." Ned greeted as he came up to his friend, and Peter nodded to him.

"You ok?" Ned asked after a few seconds when he remained uncharacteristically silent.

"Yeah." Peter answered as he glanced around. "It's just a little weird being back here."

"Yeah it sucks that summer's over." Ned didn't understand what he'd actually meant.

"We better get going or we're going to be late." Ned continued as he started walking up the stairs.

Peter followed a step behind. He almost felt like he was having an out of body experience. Before today, school had remained preserved in a bubble, the only thing still left untouched by the upheaval in his world. Now it wouldn't be.

He followed Ned on autopilot as they dropped their stuff off at their lockers and took what they needed to their first class. Peter's head still spun as he took a seat in a desk in the back next to Ned. The bell rang seconds later.

The teacher walked up and down their rows to pass out their advanced calculus textbooks. Peter tried to ignore the worried glances Ned shot him at his reserved mood.

"Peter are you sure you're ok?" Ned whispered as their teacher started writing equations on the board. "Do I need to call Mr. Stark?"

He shot a sharp glance at his friend. After he'd fallen asleep on Ned last week, he'd had to explain to him about how he still wasn't quite recovered from the lab explosion, which had subsequently turned his friend into an even worse worrier than his dad.

"I'm fine." Peter whispered back forcefully.

"You know it'd be easier to believe you if you didn't say that all the time. Even when you're clearly not." Ned hissed back.

"Well this time I am. It's just hard being back here. The last time I was here May was still alive. It's…strange. Just drop it." Peter tried to explain quietly as he glared.

"Oh." Ned looked upset now. "I'm sorry dude."

"It's ok." Peter tried to turn his attention back to the teacher, jotting the equations from the whiteboard down in his notebook. After a few minutes he glanced back over at Ned and caught him staring at him.

"Stop it." He hissed as he looked back at his notes and continued writing.

"Stop what?" Ned asked.

"Stop looking at me like I kicked your dog."

Ned opened up his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the teacher, "Boys? Is there something terribly important you need to share with the rest of the class? Or can it wait until later?"

Peter's cheeks heated as the entire class turned to look at him and Ned.

Ned responded first, "No Mrs. Anderson. Sorry Mrs. Anderson."

"Yeah sorry." Peter mumbled and ducked his head to stare intently at his notebook. He refused to look at Ned for the rest of first period.

The remainder of the day passed relatively uneventfully. Besides attending different classes, it went just about the same as all of Peter's school days last year, except Peter got to sit out for gym class and work on homework instead, which made Ned super jealous. Between that extra study time and his study hall during last period, Peter barely had any homework left for the night. He packed up his backpack and walked out with Ned. Decathlon team didn't start for another week, so they didn't have anything to stay after school for yet. He'd toyed with the idea of rejoining robotics club this year, but he figured building robots with Tony was way more fun than anything they could do in robotics club.

Peter found the town car Happy usually drove right away as he walked down the front stairs of his school.

"See you tomorrow." Peter said good-bye to Ned as he headed toward Happy.

"See you Peter. Text me later." Ned reciprocated the good-bye before he headed in the opposite direction to go home.

"I will." Peter agreed and crossed the rest of the distance to the car and opened the door to the backseat.

"Hey Happy." He greeted as he crawled in.

"Hey kid." Happy said in return. "How was school?"

"Good." Peter smiled at him as he buckled in and they drove off.

"Yeah?" Happy prompted. "You make it through the day ok?"

"Yeah it was fine." Peter said with a sigh. Sheesh. Did everyone know he still wasn't completely back to normal?

"Tony wanted you to text him when I picked you up so he knew you were ok." Happy instructed with a smirk.

Peter rolled his eyes even as he pulled out his phone to send off a quick text. I'm with Happy. He said I'm supposed to text you to let you know I'm not dead.

Not funny. Tony's response came back only a few seconds later.

Peter sent what he thought was the perfect laughing emoji.

You seem like you're in a good mood. School went ok?

Yep.

Good. I'll see you at home. Should be back a little after 5pm. What do you want for dinner?

Burgers?

You read my mind kid. Stay out of trouble until I get home. Do your homework.

Peter sent him the eye rolling emoji at that and pocketed his phone.

"Everything good?" Happy asked with a glint in his eye.

"Yeah. Just Tony being Tony. You know how he is."

"Oh I do." Happy agreed with a laugh.

He chitchatted with Happy the rest of the way home. It seemed like all too soon they were back at the Tower. The commute sure was shorter than the one to upstate.

"Hey Happy, do you know what Dad's naming the Tower?" The thought struck Peter as they drove into the underground garage. He caught Happy's amused gaze in the rearview mirror at the question.

"I mean Tony." Peter corrected instantly as he blushed at the mistake.

Happy frowned at that and parked before craning around to level Peter with a serious look.

"Listen kid. You can call him that. He adopted you. He is your dad."

Peter shifted uncomfortably and looked away as if there was something utterly fascinating out the window even though they were surrounded by concrete.

Happy sighed heavily. "I'm not sure what he's going to name it or if he's going to name it at all. You should ask him."

Peter nodded then chanced a look back at Happy who still looked a little too serious.

"All right kid. Get out. I have to go pick your dad up soon. And we both know how he loves to be kept waiting."

Peter laughed at that and hopped out. "Thanks Happy!"

"Don't mention it kid." Happy smiled. "Seriously don't. I literally get paid to do it. It's the easiest money of my job."

Peter beamed at the thinly veiled compliment. He got in the elevator and F.R.I.D.A.Y. automatically took him up to the penthouse without needing to be asked. He went straight to his room, unpacked his homework, and sat down at his desk to finish it. The very act made him feel like the old Peter again even though he was sitting at his desk in his room at the top of one of the tallest buildings in New York instead of his tiny room in Queens. He'd always done his homework as soon as he got home so he wouldn't have to worry about doing it after patrolling. He decided it wasn't a bad habit to keep. Plus he'd gotten so much done at school he just needed to finish his chemistry homework for tomorrow, which took him all of twenty minutes, so he ended up starting and then accidentally finishing his essay for English literature that wasn't due until late next week. It was on 1984. He'd already read that book like three times before, so the essay was a piece of cake. And one less thing to do later.

He ambled back out through the living room to the balcony and plopped down on one of the comfortable lawn chairs with a contented sigh as he closed his eyes. The weather was perfect. Seventy-two degrees and sunny with a light breeze. Peter could almost smell fall in the air. His favorite season. He basked in the sun and relaxed into a light doze.

He woke up later to Tony's hand shaking his shoulder. His dad stood above him in a in a crisp white shirt with a navy vest and a red tie.

"When'd you get back?" Peter asked as he sat up.

"Just now." Tony answered. "Have you been sleeping out here since you got home?"

"No." Peter shook his head. "I think only like half an hour. And I wasn't sleeping."

"You weren't?" Tony smirked. He obviously disagreed.

"I was resting with my eyes closed." Peter explained.

"Uh huh. So like the very definition of sleeping." Tony ruffled his hair. "Do you want to come in and eat some burgers with me?"

"Yeah." Peter smiled and stood, following Tony back into the living room to the couch. White bags and sodas sat on the coffee table.

"Casual dining tonight." Tony said as he handed Peter a bag and turned on the TV.

"How's that different from any other night?" Peter joked as he pulled a carton of fries and a huge juicy cheeseburger out of his bag. "Oh my god this looks amazing!"

"It is. I got them from the best burger joint in New York." Tony endorsed as he took a bite of his own. Peter took a few seconds to marvel at how Tony could eat something so messy in such nice clothes and still stay so completely spotless and put together.

Peter took a bite of his own burger and already worried he'd dripped mustard on his shirt.

"This is delicious." Peter praised after he'd finished chewing his first bite.

"The only thing better than their burgers is their shakes." Tony added as he took a second to wipe his mouth with a napkin.

"Don't worry. I put them in the fridge." Tony smiled when he noticed Peter discretely looking around for the shakes. "You like chocolate right?"

"I love chocolate." Peter nodded excitedly.

"Ok good. Eat that first though." Tony said and kept eating his burger one handed as he scrolled through the channels before settling on the movie Stargate playing on HBO. They watched it silently, too occupied with wolfing down their food to talk.

"So…" Tony paused as he swallowed his last bite and started balling up the wrappers to throw away. "I had a little chat with Happy on the way over here."

Peter frowned slightly at that opening as he finished the last of his fries.

"He said you were wondering what I was going to name the Tower."

"Oh. Yeah, I was just curious." Peter said with a shrug. "I hadn't thought about it before, but what are you going to name it? Are you going to call it Avengers Tower again? Or something new? Or Happy thought maybe nothing?"

Tony quirked his lip. "What do you think I should name it?"

"What do I think? I don't know. I mean just keeping its old name might be easier since that's what everyone calls it now anyway. And well all the Avengers do live here…"

"Good point." Tony smiled at him. "We'll keep the name. Less paperwork that way too."

Peter smiled back and crumpled up his own wrappers. Tony took their garbage out to the kitchen and came back with two huge milkshakes in styrofoam cups with lids and straws. He handed one to Peter.

"Mmm." Peter voiced his appreciation after a sip from the larger than normal straw. "This is good."

"I know."

"Hey, Happy told me something else too." Tony continued as he drank his own milkshake. "Something I want to talk to you about. Something I think I should've brought up earlier but I didn't want to make a big deal about it."

Peter frowned and felt his heart speed up. He had a bad feeling he knew where this was going.

"Peter, you know I adopted you because I wanted to be more than just your guardian. I wanted to be your dad." Tony gave him a small smile. "I'm your dad. You can call me that if you want to. It's true. It's not wrong. But you also don't have to if you don't want to. You can call me whatever you want. Ok?"

Peter nodded, eyes wide.

"Well except dude." Tony continued with a joke to lighten the mood. "Please don't call me dude. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me."

Peter let out a small laugh. "Ned's the one who says that all the time. Not me."

"Oh I'm well aware." Tony smiled. "Just covering my bases."

"Got it dude." Peter said with an evil smile before he sipped his milkshake some more.

Tony just groaned and they turned their attention back to the movie. Peter thought after that conversation he should feel incredibly awkward but he didn't. If anything, he felt relieved. Tony didn't care if he called him dad. He wouldn't have to pay such close attention to censoring himself every second anymore. And he'd also learned that apparently Happy had a big mouth and was unquestionably loyal to Tony over him. Definitely good to know for the future.

They watched the rest of the movie and Peter picked the next one. Tony pulled out his Starkpad and started working, but Peter didn't mind.

"Hey did you finish your homework?" Tony asked with a little nudge when Peter's eyes started drooping closed during the second movie.

"Huh?"

"Homework." Tony repeated. "You done?"

"Yeah." Peter scoffed. "It only took like two seconds." It was a bit of an exaggeration but Peter wanted Tony to be impressed, to be proud of him.

Tony chuckled. "Of course. You're a genius. How could I forget?"

Peter smiled at him.

"Why don't you go get ready for bed and then come back out and we'll finish the movie?" Tony suggested.

"Fine." Peter said with an edge of complaint but acquiesced. It didn't take that long to brush his teeth and wash his face. He changed into a pair of red plaid flannel sleep bottoms and then threw on his grey Ironman pajama shirt on a whim. He'd never worn anything Ironman related in front of Tony before but the shirt was one of his softest ones and he kind of missed wearing it. Besides, if Tony didn't care if he called him dad he wasn't going to tease him too much over his clothing choice.

Tony's eyes twinkled when he caught sight of Peter's shirt.

"Make a thing out of it and I'll never wear it again." Peter warned as he sat back down on the couch.

"I didn't say anything." Tony laughed.

"You were going to."

Tony kept his mouth shut but Peter could tell he loved the shirt.

Peter pushed play on the movie and leaned into the couch, watching it mindlessly as Tony went back to working. Toward the end of the movie, he let his eyes slip closed as his thoughts circled back to the events of the school day and how weird it had been to be back there. It had made him realize how much everything had changed in such a short span of time. May was gone. And he still missed her like crazy. But his life hadn't ended. And he wasn't alone. Like he'd feared. Instead, he'd gained a dad. And he knew things weren't perfect, and they probably still had a lot of things to work out, but he wasn't afraid, because he knew that no matter what Tony would be there. Tony was his safe place.

Peter listened on the edge of sleep, as the movie ended and the room went silent when his dad turned the TV off and stood. Peter knew he should get up now but he figured it'd be fine to rest for a few more minutes first. Or maybe he could just sleep on the couch.

Seconds later, he was gently lifted into the air and being carried to his room by his dad. Part of him knew he should stop playing possum but a larger part enjoyed the feeling of being taken care of too much. When he was set down in bed, Peter gave a sleepy sigh and rolled onto his side as Tony tucked him in. He felt Tony brush his hair back and drop a kiss on his temple. It was one of the many small signs of affection Peter had come to crave from the man.

"Hmm. Night Dad." He mumbled as the man ran a hand through his hair again.

"Night kiddo." He could hear the love in Tony's voice. A moment later the lights turned off and he heard his door click closed softly.

Peter smiled into his pillow. Tony was a good dad. Whatever the future held, he knew Tony would be there for him and they would make it through. Together.

"Hello?"

"Sorry to bother you sir, but I have a guy that was recently transferred here who says he has some information someone might be interested in, and I think that someone might be you."

"What kind of information?"

"He claims he knows who Spiderman is, and he's willing to talk."

"What does he want for it?" Information like that didn't come free.

"His freedom."

"Of course he does." The man muttered. "What is he in for?"

"Theft. Tried to steal from Stark. Looks like the guy pulled some strings to get him sent to the Raft for it."

The man laughed. This was just perfect.

"Well we both know how much I love Stark."

"I know sir."

"It sounds like a reasonable exchange. Tell him I'll see what I can do."

"Yes sir."

"What's this guy's name?"

"Adrian Toomes. His record was spotless until he tried to nab a Stark jet full of tech about a year ago."

"A year ago? Why is he just getting transferred to the Raft now?"

"I don't know sir. I agree it is a little odd."

"Hmm. Let me do a little digging. Make some phone calls."

"Of course sir."

"Anyway, I have to finish doing this horse and pony show for the president first. Spiderman will keep."

"Very good sir."

"And good work soldier."

"Thank you General Ross."

A/N: Thank you all so much for sticking with this story and going on this incredible journey with me! All of your responses have meant so much to me! And don't worry this isn't really the end. I have a sequel planned!