Iron Man flew over New York. Inside the armor, Tony Stark scanned the skyline.

"Two blocks out, boss."

"Thanks, F.R.I.D.A.Y." He was on his way to touch base with the Spiderling. He had always kept tabs on the kid after Germany, via the suit he had given him and its telemetry, not to mention news reports on the spidery superhero. When he was really bored or desperate (a.k.a worried), he'd even hack Happy's phone and read over Peter's texts and numerous voicemail 'reports'.

Ever since the fiasco with Vulture, however, Tony had tried to make Peter more aware of the fact that Tony was watching him. The entire ferry debacle could have been avoided if Peter had known Tony tipped off the feds. So Tony was working on communication. That included dropping by on Peter's patrols as Spiderman at least twice a month.

He landed on top of the building F.R.I.D.A.Y said Peter was. His stepped out of the armor as he spotted the kid sitting on the ledge of the building. It would be precariously close to a fall to one's death, if one wasn't equipped with webslingers and suction cup skin.

"Hey Underoos!" Tony perched next to the kid. "How's the crime-fighting business?"

"Hey Mr. Stark."

Tony stared at him. He was used to the kid being tired during their visits, but the total lack of energy and enthusiasm, or even nervous hero worship was...disconcerting.

"What's eating you, kid?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired."

"Been sleeping?"

"Yeah, mostly. Bit hard to get the full eight hours with high school and the patrols, you know? But I'm good."

"You could always take a night off."

Peter didn't respond, but somehow Tony got the impression that this was the absolute wrong thing to say.

"You sure you're okay, kid?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

Tony's eyes narrowed. Peter was still wearing his mask. Normally he had brushed it off by this point in the meeting. He gripped the back of the mask, ripping it off before Peter could protest.

"Ouch!" The teen groused, rubbing his head where Tony had pulled his hair. He kept his head ducked away. Tony, having none of it, gripped the kid's chin, making him look him in the eye. Tear tracks were drying on his face.

"What's wrong, Peter?"

Peter jerked his face away. "Nothing. Forget about it." He reached for his mask.

"Nuh uh." Tony held the mask out of Peter's reach. "You get this back when you tell me what's wrong."

Peter's eyes narrowed. A flick of his wrist, and a web had snatched the mask out of his hand.

"Whoa. You've gotten better at that."

"Not better enough."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, Peter." Tony sighed, staring at the teen. He looked uncharacteristically guarded. Tony softened his tone. "I can't help if I don't know what's wrong." It sounded so...adult-y. Something a parent would say to a child. A rote phrase people tried to use to make things better even when they really couldn't.

And Peter knew it. "You can't help."

"I'm Tony Stark. There are very few things I can't do."

"You can't bring back the dead!"

Tony froze. What? "The dead? Who's dead?" When Peter shook his head, Tony gripped his shoulder. "Kid, talk to me. What happened?"

The teen drew a shaky breath. "I...I hacked the police radio. Or...Karen did. I don't...it doesn't matter." He stared at his hands in his lap. "I thought I could do more...help the police, if I knew what they were facing. They put out an APB on a kidnapping two days ago. Tonight...Karen pegged some guy in a alley with facial recognition as the kidnapper. I followed him. It...It was a ring. A...they were selling girls…" Peter swallowed again. Tony winced.

"Some...some were my age. Others...they were a lot younger." Peter hesitated. "I webbed up most of the guys. But one...he grabbed a girl and held a knife to her neck. She...she was screaming. He said if I didn't let him go, he'd…" Peter's voice broke. "I told...I told him to go. I did everything he said, but…" A small sob slipped into his voice.

"Pete…"

"She was...she was...ten. I...I don't know her name."

Tony's grip tightened on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. Do you hear me? It wasn't your fault. It was that sick monster. This isn't on you, Peter. Do you understand me?"

"But it is! If I...I could have…"

"Peter! Listen to me." Tony bent closer to the kid's ear. "This is not your fault. Part of being a hero...part of this job, is that we sometimes lose. But that's not on us. You're not God, Peter. You can't be everywhere, and you can't save everyone. And that sucks, but it's not on you. You did your best."

"But my best wasn't good enough!"

"Hey, hey! Sometimes we lose. And sometimes we lose people. The important thing is you tried." Tony sighed heavily. "You didn't force him to do what he did. That was his choice, and it's on him. You did your part by trying, Peter. Sometimes...sometimes that's all we can do. I know it's hard. But it's not on you."

"She...she was so scared…"

Tony drew the teen against him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. "Hey, hey. It's okay. It's okay."

Peter sobbed into his shoulder. Tony felt his heart hurt for the kid. Because that's what he was. A kid. He shouldn't have been facing anything like this. He shouldn't have to live with this burden. He shouldn't have to deal with this. He should be worrying about girls and cars and movies and grades. Not this…

After a long moment, Peter sat up, scrubbing at his eyes with the palms of his hands. Tony kept a hand on his shoulder.

"You know…" Tony began hesitantly. "Nobody would blame you if you didn't want to do this. If you stopped. You shouldn't be dealing with stuff like this, kid…"

"No." Peter sniffled, but his voice was hard. "No, I have to do this. When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen...they happen because of you. And I don't want anything else on my conscience. Maybe...maybe I did my best today. But...I still gotta do my best tomorrow."

Tony half smiled in amazement. "You said something like that before." He shook his head. "You're something else, kid."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're...you've been through hell, and yet...you're willing to do it again, all to help people. That takes guts. And a lot more strength than most people have."

Peter glanced down. "I'm not strong."

"Yeah. Yeah, you are kid. You're plenty strong." Tony gave a bitter chuckle. "You're stronger than me."

Peter gave him a surprised, disbelieving look. Tony squeezed his shoulder.

"I'm proud of you, Spiderman."

Peter glanced down, but not before Tony caught the gratitude in his eyes. "Thanks."

Tony squeezed his shoulder again. If anyone could have been given these powers, these responsibilities, the world was incredibly blessed it had been this amazing, extraordinary kid in front of him.

He found out on the news later that Spiderman had saved twenty-six girls that night and stopped thirteen men, including one that was now been held for the homicide of a ten year old girl. The police now had evidence to break up a much larger ring of sex traffickers all "thanks to the courageous efforts of Spiderman."

He smiled.

He'd once told Peter he wanted him to be better than him.

But really...he always had been.

A/N: Hey guys! This is my first Avengers fnafiction, so please be nice. And if you enjoyed it, or have any suggestions/constructive criticism, please leave me a review! Thanks! God Bless!