Who: Peter Parker (Spider-Man), and Tony Stark (Iron Man) When: After this conversation Where: Stark Tower What: Reconnecting Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete when posted
If Peter was being completely honest, he’d admit that he was avoiding Stark Tower. Seeing Tony again was going to be weird, and without the history between them… Peter wasn’t sure things were going to fall into place the way they had the last time Tony was here. Then again, things were probably going to be fine, and he was probably just being silly. Probably.
It was time, though. He’d put it off long enough. Peter couldn’t come up with any more stupid excuses. Classes were just starting up, and superheroing wasn’t taking up that much of his time… he was spending a lot of time with Honey, but that wasn’t in the way this time.
Wearing one of his nice suits, resume in hand, Peter headed to Stark Tower to apply for an internship.
--
Tony still didn't know if he was ready to see Peter. He knew he was here and he knew he'd been here for long enough to get at least two girlfriends in his time, so he wasn't sure why he was so… Freaked out. Peter had died in his arms and he was fine, that much was true, but he hadn't exactly believed it until he saw the man walking through the front doors on the cameras.
Tony dropped his head into his hand and exhaled slowly. Okay. Peter needed him to be normal right now, so he would try - that was the least he could do. He stood up and opened the door when he heard a knock on it, pausing as he stared down at him, taking in the clearly untailored suit and the résumé in his hands.
“Well, that was fucking pointless to bring,” he took the paper and threw it aside. Fuck it. He pulled Peter into a hug despite his rule about hugs and about being handed things and about everything - he was alive. “You're really okay.”
--
Out of about a million scenarios Peter had envisioned would take place after he walked into Tony Stark's office, this was one of the weirdest. Peter felt his own nose start to burn, emotion boiling up in his chest, fit to burst. The hug, while unexpected, was far from unwelcome. Peter wrapped his arms around his mentor and let out a deep, shakey breath. The last time this Tony had been this close, Peter had been dissolving into dust. The younger man was still trying to wrap his head around all that, trying to deal with the ptsd. The hug was helping.
“I'm… I'm alive.” Was he okay? He was in school. He was in love. He owned a house he shared with friends. But the was a lot of shit he was still dealing with… shit that Tony's reappearance was bringing right back to the surface. He pulled back from the hug to look up at Tony. Peter's eyes were very wet.
“You're here. You're back.”
--
Peter crying was almost enough to set Tony off. Almost. He'd done his fair share of crying and he refused to let anybody else but Bruce see that - see him weak and broken as he was right now.
“Course I'm back, Peter. Not that I remember being here and leaving in the first place,” he gently poked Peter in the cheek, his other hand resting on his shoulder. “I don't have any plans on leaving again, but it sounds like there's not a lot of choice involved in the matter.”
He exhaled slowly, reassuring himself in his head. Peter was fine. He was here. He wasn't begging him to stay and that- was better than he could have ever asked for. “I can't believe you brought a résumé, you nerd.”
--
Peter lifted his hand to wipe at his eyes. He wasn’t exactly crying. Not really. Not like, weepy sobbing kind of crying. He was keeping it together pretty well, considering.
The poke to his cheek made him break into a grin. “Good. I… I think I’d like it better if you stuck around for a while.” He tucked his hand into his pocket, the other still holding his resume.
And chuckled, almost embarrassed. Okay, maybe a little embarrassed. “Well, yeah. I mean, I take this kind of thing seriously, Mr. Stark.”
--
“Considering most of your resume is school or because of me, I know it already,” he clapped him on the back and pulled away from the hug a little, smiling at him. He was definitely trying not to cry right now, but. God. It was Peter. “I thought I’d gotten you killed,” he blurted out because no filter existed between his mouth and his brain, apparently. Wonderful.
“Sorry- I just...mean. I’m glad. I’m glad you’re here and you’re okay, even if I’m not the Tony you wanted to show up,” or something.
--
Peter wiped at his face again with his sleeve, removing any last remnant of the tears that kinda dribbled out. He wasn’t like, crying. Not really. Just… leaking. A little. Hey, it was emotional, all right? He wasn’t a robot.
“Well, then it’ll be easy for you to hire me.” Peter held out the resume, a relieved, teasing grin on his lips. And then… the other thing.
He cleared his throat, the smile fading. “...I think… I think I did. Die. There.” Peter swallowed. Hard. “But it’s not--you’re not not the Tony I wanted. I--” his voice cracked. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
--
Tony took the resume again and tossed it over his shoulder. “Consider yourself hired. Between- whatever other business you have,” and then Peter started crying and Tony wished he knew how to deal with stuff like this because frankly, he was terrible.
“You should’ve fucking stayed on Earth,” he was frustrated, but he wasn’t angry, just...he should have made him stay. He should have realised he’d cling on or something. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault, but- god. I sent you home so none of that would happen to you, Peter.”
--
Hired. Good. Peter was glad to have the job. The internship. Whatever it was. He was glad to be back at Stark Tower, even though it was a weird place to be--he knew the building like the back of his hand. He’d lived here, after all, for a long time. With Tony and Steve and all the others. He missed this place.
Peter wiped at his face one last time, resigned that he wouldn’t break down. He could be a grown-up about this. Tony needed him to be a grown-up about all of it, and the last thing in the world Peter would ever want would be to let Tony Stark down.
“It’s not your fault.” Peter said, drawing his brows together. He insisted. This was him insisting. “It’s Thanos’s fault.”
--
“Of course it’s fucking Thanos’ fault, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely absconded of any blame, Pete,” Tony mimicked his frown without realising it, moving over to his desk to fiddle with things just so he had something to do to distract his hands from hugging Peter again. He’d reached the limit for the day of how many times it was acceptable to hug your intern, after all - he wasn’t here to be weird to Peter or anything.
“Look- we can argue about that forever, but it’s not going to make me any less angry at myself. The point here is that you’re welcome wherever and you’re welcome to use the labs as and when you see fit. And- anybody you trust, I guess,” he was...less pleased about that. He knew Peter, but not anybody else here and- frankly, he was kind of jealous.
Jealous was maybe the wrong word. He felt left out, which wasn’t a common feeling for Tony. Bruce was the only person here who didn’t seem to remember a previous version of him being here and it was weird. It made him feel like an outcast in his own damn body, like he was some...imposter. “Let me know if you need anything,” he finished awkwardly.