Attempt 15 was nearly finished. Tony knew Pepper wasn't very happy with how much time he was spending in the lab this weekend, but he also knew that as soon as Peter could he would be fighting crime again. And his current Spiderman suit technically had a bullet hole in it, so it was crucial that he, Tony, would have an improved suit for him next time.

Never mind the question of whether Peter should be out there at all. He would go fight crime whether it was legal or not, and whether he had sufficient protection or not, so Tony didn't see a problem in giving him tech to make sure that didn't kill him. He wasn't encouraging bad behavior- if it was bad. He was just... minimizing the potential negative consequences of such morally gray behavior.

At least, that's what he told Pepper, and it was probably what she told May he'd said. Maybe she'd said he was totally wrong to be doing this, but he couldn't believe that of her. Besides, May knew her nephew. She had to realize he was impossible to keep down. Peter had been grounded, had lost the suit Tony had given him, had had a warehouse dropped on him- Tony had sat down rather suddenly when he'd first heard that- but he was still out there helping people whenever he could.

That's how Tony defined hero.

He was telling this to Pepper, after a drink or two that night, and she was laughing but he wasn't sure why. And it was hard to tell, but it didn't sound like she found what he was saying funny, so why was she laughing? Was it possible to laugh sadly?

Pepper peeled the nearly-empty glass out of his hand and set it down on the table. With a coaster, he noted, because she was too classy to leave marks on a table. She was too good for him. Tony beamed at her.

"Tony," she sighed. "How can you still not see why Peter looks up to you?"

What did that have to do with what he was saying? Tony frowned and tried to focus. "Huh?"

"You said," Pepper swallowed and started again, "You said a hero is someone who doesn't stop trying to help people. Like Peter. Yes?"

He considered her words, mentally repeated the sentence… "Yes."

"Okay, then," she said, sitting back and looking at him. "Iron Man is a hero. You're a hero."

"No," Tony said immediately, from habit.

"No? How are you different? Or are you the exception to the rule?" Pepper thrust her chin forward, challenging him, and all he could see were the little freckles across her nose and cheekbones. Like stars. "Hey. Pay attention. Why do you insist you're not a hero?"

This time he answered. "It's 'cause I'm not. Not after what I've done. I'm not good enough."

"Don't say that. Why would you say that? It's not true, Tony."

"Your eyes are really pretty," he said, waving a hand in the general direction of her face. "You know that?"

Pepper sighed. "You can't avoid this conversation forever," she said, but she stood up. "Night. You'd better get some sleep tonight."

Tony stayed on the couch alone for a little while longer, mulling over her words. He drained the rest of the glass's contents and set it down carefully back on its coaster. What time was it? He checked his watch. 3:23AM, it read, and he blinked. Had he been sitting here for that long? How had that happened?

He got up and, stumbling from the drinks and the late hour, made his way to bed. He'd have one monster of a headache when he woke up, but if there was any justice in the world, that wouldn't be until many hours later.

There was no justice in the world. FRIDAY woke him at nine in the morning to inform him that SHIELD was calling him again. Tony threw an arm over his face at the sunlight streaming into his room. A mild hangover was pulsing behind his temples. Could've been worse, but... "Dim that," he ordered, and the shades moved to block out more of the light. "Don't pick up the-"

"Stark," said Fury's voice, and Tony startled.

"FRIDAY, we're gonna have words. Yeah, Fury, what is it?"

"Can't I just be calling to see how Spiderman's doing? Kid got shot five days ago, and I'm not allowed to ask after him? Not like I have a way to get in touch with him directly."

Tony sighed. "If you've woken me up to get in another crack about the Accords again, I swear, I'll hang up on you right now."

"No," admitted Fury. "That one was just for fun."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't funny. So why did you call?"

"I…" Fury sounded hesitant, which seemed out of character for him. Immediately Tony was set on edge.

"What? What is it?"

"Dealing with paperwork and diplomatic nonsense all night, Stark, I'm tired. What's your excuse? Never mind. I don't want to know. Point is, I've gotten the higher-ups to agree to minors not signing. We're willing to look the other way for super kids, or whatever you called them. But do you want to tell Spiderman all of this?"

Tony paused. "Are you going to let me? You said not to, before."

"That was before your kid got himself shot proving himself to you. Not that I can know that's what happened. Educated guess."

It was a good guess, Tony had to admit. So if he could tell Peter everything that he'd been keeping from him, he definitely would. "So I can tell him. Definitely? No, I don't know, no sniper gonna cut me off mid-sentence to protect SHIELD secrets?"

Nick might have laughed. "I'm giving you permission, but since when have you waited for that?"

Tony hung up. "FRI, text the kid, tell him I wanna talk. Ask him where he wants to meet up."

Peter was doing his homework, but he checked his phone as soon as he felt it it buzz on his desk. It could be important, he reasoned. It had nothing to do with how much he despised essay writing.

Want to talk. Where should we meet? T. -Sent from my AI

Peter laughed. Only Mr. Stark. He texted back, Are you at the tower?

Within half an hour, he was at the tower and waiting for Mr. Stark to show up. Oh, there he was.

"Hey, kid. Hope I didn't call you away from anything urgent. Your aunt know where you are?"

"Just an essay! I'll do it later," he added hastily, at Tony's disapproving look. "Yeah, I told her. She's probably calling Pepper to check that I made it here safe."

Pepper peeked in, holding a phone to her ear. "Yeah, he's here," she said to whoever was on the other side, and Peter grinned at Tony.

"So what'd you want to talk about?"

"Oh. Uh, sit down. So… you know how I was telling you last week that you should quit being a superhero?"

Peter's face darkened. He was hoping Mr. Stark would forget about that. He'd been trying to do so himself. He hadn't exactly followed orders. And he wasn't too thrilled at the recollection that Tony didn't think he was worthy of being Spiderman. "Yeah."

Tony started to lift his hands out of his lap, then let them fall back. He looked conflicted. No, like he didn't know where to start. "You didn't stop," he said, rubbing his temples.

"No." Peter didn't know what else to say. No, he hadn't stopped, and it had gotten him hurt. He could have died. But he still didn't want to stop being Spiderman.

"Hey, I'm not mad," Tony rushed to say, and it was like Peter was able to sit up straighter suddenly, like he'd set down a backpack filled with rocks.

"You're not?" He frowned, and then words flowed out of him uncontrollably, words even he hadn't known he'd been keeping inside. "But… I got hurt. I thought this would… It would prove your point, right? I'm just a kid. I do dumb things. I can't help people if I can't keep myself safe."

Tony was looking at him with surprise and… was that shame? Was Mr. Stark ashamed of him? Peter looked at his fingers and splayed them across the table to avoid making eye contact. His face was going red. Why had he said all that? If Mr. Stark hadn't believed it before, he would now.

"Kid," Tony said gently, and started over. "No. Peter, look at me. I'm not upset with you and I don't think any of that. Well, you do need to keep yourself safe. But for the most part you do a pretty good job of that. Better than me, probably. And that's not what I was going to say."

Peter faced Tony. "Then why am I here?"

"I wanted to apologize," said Tony, and exhaled heavily. "I made you think you had to prove yourself to me, and that led to you putting yourself in harm's way, so that's on me."

"Mr. Stark, no," Peter said, but Tony wasn't done.

"The truth is, I told you to quit because SHIELD was pressuring me. They wanted Spiderman out of the picture so he- you- wouldn't be active and then you wouldn't have to sign and it was all a big mess, and it got taken out on you, and-"

"SHIELD? What does SHIELD have to do with anything? Sign what?"

Tony saw Peter's confusion. "I'm not doing a very good job explaining, am I? Sorry. Five hours of sleep will do that. Uh. You know the Accords, yeah?"

"That's what Germany was about," Peter said, nodding, but he still didn't see where this was going. "So?"

"So," said Tony, pointing at Peter like a teacher who'd been interrupted. Peter fell silent, but Tony didn't look annoyed. "Spiderman was supposed to sign the Accords. They wanted to know who you were. Are. They were bugging me about it for a while, no pun intended-"

"Spiders are arachnids, Mr. Stark," Peter interrupted, sighing.

"I know, I know. Jeez, kid, learn to take a joke. You think I don't know that by now? Anyway, they were on my case about it. Fury told me if Spiderman dropped out of the picture they'd stop going after him. You."

"So you told me to quit," Peter said slowly. Things were starting to make sense now. "That way I wouldn't be active enough to need to sign?"

"Right."

Peter felt a knot in his chest loosen. It had nothing to do with his own performance. Mr. Stark hadn't meant to snub him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tony shrugged helplessly. "Fury wouldn't let me. Said it wouldn't end well. I couldn't risk it. I figured I'd better listen."

"So it wasn't me?" He hated his own neediness, but he had to check.

"Peter, no. I already made that mistake once. It killed me to say it again." Tony stared resolutely at the ceiling, and Peter could see that he wasn't used to showing this much emotion. He'd gotten past the armor, finally.

Peter ducked his head, smiling despite himself. But after the doubt came the guilt. He should have known better than to think Mr. Stark would say something to hurt him. How could he have doubted Tony? Where was his trust? If he really deserved to be Spiderman, he would never have believed the worst of Iron Man.

"Kid, look at me. I don't like that face you're making. What's on your mind?"

How to say it? Peter shook his head. "It's nothing, I just… I can't believe I fell for it, I guess. I mean, I should have trusted you to know what was best for me."

"Fell for it?" Tony was shaking his head too now. "You had no reason not to believe me. Hadn't I already showed you I was a bad judge of your abilities? This is my hit to take."

Peter considered that. His instinct was still to blame himself, but Mr. Stark would be feeling the same way, so who was to say who was right? Maybe both of them were at fault, or maybe neither. It was time to let this go. "Okay."

"Say," said Tony, snapping his fingers, "you think that fake ice cream place gives superheroes a discount if they come in costume?"

Peter laughed. "It's frozen yogurt, and-"

"Yeah," Tony decided, "let's find out. Come on, Spiderman."

Another great photo op for the tourists: Iron Man and Spiderman, balancing fro-yo as they made their way through the city. It was Tony's phone background for a month.