Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony ever since he was a young boy, paparazzi never gave a break for him and his family. They were always there, recording or taking pictures of him during every opportunity they had. That’s why he had to learn how to isolate himself from the constant social media interactions, like taking shortcuts through dark alleyways or sometimes having to cover his full face just so he could get unnoticed by the world.

So you can probably imagine that after the Avengers first assembled and were officially a superhero team, the popularity of the infamous Tony Stark grew even higher. Each day there was a higher possibility that the whole world will know Iron man one day.

All 8 billion human beings.

That’s why all his favorite cafes, restaurants and bars were located somewhere so isolated from the big city, making it almost impossible to reach without getting lost in the meantime.

Sadly, Tony took another loss after hearing that his favorite cafe has been closed, due to people discovering that the best superhero in the world bought their morning coffee there every single day. So many people started coming over to the little space, hoping to see if the celebrity was there, that the manager who was already in his late 80’s that couldn’t handle the amount of costumers coming in, sadly had to retire.

It was a never ending cycle of constantly finding a safe space, feeling like a casual citizen and it being destroyed because of his presence. The man learned to ignore the guilt that build up after each closing, but there was always this sort of uncanny feeling of ruining everything. He could have ruined a perfect life that someone was polishing to perfection.

Each time he wanted to be a human being, he ruined something.

All that destruction because of him just existing.

Although he could stop going to public places like these, Tony still wanted to have at least a tiny spark of being normal. So, Stark was once again on a hunt for another cafe he could feel like a casual citizen in, without the cashier freaking out.

Somewhere he could actually feel human,

where he could just be a person.

While Stark was squeezing through the tight alleys between the big buildings at around 1 AM, his eyes stumbled across a led light, flashing through the darkness of the alleyway. The sign had “Under The Full Moon” written on it, slim glass doors taking most of the space between the two buildings.

He quietly entered the tiny space, the room being filled with all different types of plants and flowers, also having a hint of retro decor. Behind the desk, there was a teenage boy with curly short hair and dark circles under his eyes, leaning on the wooden furniture. His thumb was scrolling on the phones screen, the man barely awake. He had a sage green apron tied around his waist, with a little pin saying “Hi! I’m Peter Parker and I am going to serve you today! :-)“

The desk was also very messy, having all different books and notes scattered everywhere. Tony immediately noticed some equations from collage, back when he studied at MIT written on one of the teenager’s books. He remembered studying very hard for every test he had, wanting to finally impress his father. Wanting to hear a compliment leave his dad’s mouth. Tony regretted studying so much- No. He hated how naive he was, thinking that his father would actually notice him, even if he was an only child.

The other pair of eyes made contact with the approaching costumer. The teenager rose up from his slouched position, straightening his posture. The boy was still too sleepy to acknowledge who just entered his shop.

“ Good evening, what can I do for you today.. ” Peter asked drowsily, his eyes half open.

“Hi kid, how about a cappuccino with some drizzled chocolate and a chocolate muffin?” Whenever he discovered a new cafe, he always ordered the same thing. If the order was done the way he liked it, he would usually keep on coming to the place. Of course, if the workers let him eat in peace.

Parker noted the order down on his notepad, which contained random doodles that the teen drew. After putting the pen down, he got straight to work and started to prepare the food. While he was busy assembling the celebrity’s order, Tony took another glance at the boys notebook.

“So you’re studying for collage I assume?”Iron man started the conversation, filling up the quiet four wall room.

“Yeah, maybe MIT if I am lucky. Really want to go there with both of my friends”

The espresso shot made its way to the paper cup, the milk was mid through getting steamed. In the meantime, a stale muffin has been put onto a plate, waiting for the rest of the meal to be served.

“ I see… ” The man said quietly “I feel like your going places kiddo” Tony complimented the boy behind the wooden counter, gazing at the loose work.

There were blueprints of different machines. Some of them were for studying, the type that the students would usually study on, looking at how to sketch a proper print, but few of them were actually the boys own ideas, having his name written in the right corner.

When Stark was about to reach for the paper, his order was already done, making him go back to the front desk. He reached for his wallet, opening it widely

“How much?”

“7 dollars and 60 cents” He responded blandly, rubbing his left eye with a barely closed fist.

Tony put a 10 dollar bill on the counter, sliding it towards the cashier

“Keep the change” He looked up at the teen, giving him a small smile, revealing his face under his hat.

He grabbed both coffee and the muffin, heading towards one of the tables. Although he couldn’t see it, he could feel the kid freaking out after seeing the man’s appearance. Stark knew that the boy was speechless and it was just a matter of time till he would come up to him and ask for a photo and an autograph.

Such gesture never happened.

After spending about 30 minutes in the cafeteria, taking his sweet time with finishing his stale chocolate desert and surfing on the internet, the young worker continued on cleaning the space and decided to keep studying with his notes. Tony before entering the mysterious was sure that it would be his first and last time here. But maybe this boy could keep this a secret. It would be a shame if he couldn’t, since the actual coffee was really amazing. He would never except such a good cup of cap at 1 AM, made by a probably 15 year old child. Now that he thought about It, this child looked way too young to be working at the cafeteria.

For now, Tony just shrugged it off, his phone was now showing 1:23 AM. He slowly stepped away from the table, taking the dirty dish to the teenager. All he saw was just an overworked student, finally sleeping after clearly not getting enough rest. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

Before leaving, he decided to turn off the lights, since the light switch wasn’t very far away from the exit. After gently closing the door and turning the “OPEN” sign to “CLOSED”, Tony walked back from where he came from, finally reaching his parked car and driving back home.

*+~+*

When Peter came back to reality, he could see the sun already lightening up the alley between the buildings. His watch was showing 5:31 in the morning, while his whole body was glazed with sweat. Boss was definitely going to get angry at him for not being open for about 4 hours, but there weren’t a lot of costumers coming in anyway. When he stood up, wanting to get back to studying and opening the cafe, Peter immediately noticed a 100 dollar bill sticking to his sweaty arm. There was no note, no letter. Just the money.

He did remember the last costumer of the night, so he knows that it was him that left him the tip. How could he forget? It was Tony fucking Stark. Literally the best superhero in the world. And yet he didn’t ask for a photo or an autograph, even when it was the only thing in his mind. The boy knew that he entered the empty cafe for a reason, probably wanting to isolate himself from the constant pressure of paparazzi. Even if there was going to be a big wave of regret bugging him for the next week, Peter knew he did the right thing.

The teenager put the paper bill in his scruffy wallet, before going back to designing his web shooter. Parker recently discovered he had some enhanced powers after this stupid spider bit him . The spot still itched till this very day. He knew that such abilities couldn’t go to waste. At least he had a chance to actually live in this world for once, not being a pushover to everyone. Even if he didn’t have a family of his own, he could always help everyone else. Maybe then he would be loved by someone.

Now that he had that 100 dollars, he could definitely make himself a suit. Parker would be struggling with the bills for a little while afterwards, but he wouldn’t mind. It’s not like Peter hasn’t starved before just so he can pay all his taxes.

So it was set, he is going to be a superhero. A friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

Just for now.

Chapter Text

Few days passed after his first encounter with Iron man, the regret still lingering around his mind. While his head was thinking about that particular night, his costume was coming together very nicely. Although, It wasn’t the perfect costume he dreamed of having. It only contained some blue pants with a red and blue zip-up hoodie and a tiny spider logo glued onto his chest. The red sneakers matched perfectly with his long vibrant red socks, while the mask, which had small mechanical eyes helping him with his eyesight, helped to keep his identity secret.

It surely wasn’t his greatest creation, but he couldn’t really do much with a one hundred dollar budget. Even if the fragile material of the suit rips, he could easily sew it up. It wasn’t a problem, since Peter got used to repairing his clothing instead of buying new ones, not wanting to waste his money on "useless things". Even after all that work that he had put into his disguise, there was one thing, one feature that he wanted to test out. And today was the perfect day.

Before closing the diner, he quickly changed into his new uniform in the staff bathroom. Parker wrapped his brand new web shooters around both of his wrists, leaving the room in the meantime. They were filled with the liquid substance which Peter made and discovered himself. Since the chemicals that he needed for his webs were expensive, he would randomly sneak into a high school once in a while and act as one of the students, just to get the proper materials he needed. But that wasn't the only reason he went there.

Because Peter wasn't assigned to a family, he couldn't go to school. He would need a legal guardian to sign all the papers, just so he can be accepted into the system. So even If it was technically illegal, his determination for studying was bigger than the fear of getting caught. That might have come off as nerdy, but Peter knew he would need that knowledge one day, hoping that maybe they would magically accept his application for MIT.

The school that he typically "went to", was the MidTown Science High School, which got a lot of fundings from the government, specifically for their chemistry classes. In the meantime, he had also made some friends, one of them being his best friend, Ned. The teen was a little nerdy and obsessed with building legos just like Peter. Ned also loved to watch Sci-Fi films and would always theorize each one he watched, usually sharing his opinion with Peter. There is also MJ who attends the same classes as him and Ned. MJ wasn’t very talkative, usually just scribbling people in her notebook, but would occasionally talk to the two students, keeping a close eye on Peter. It wasn’t normal for students to appear out of nowhere mid semester. Either way, the trio got along with each other pretty well, Parker still keeping the biggest secret from both of his colleagues.

Yet, the teenager still wouldn't be able to finish high school because, once again, he wasn't officially attending the school. He wasn’t an actual student. Parker decided to avoid this topic and distract himself with something else, but the voices inside of his head never slept. He could still hear them in the back of his head, talking about how his future will be a disaster.

He heard them each quiet night, when everything was silent. 

Where nothing muted their whispers.

The last thing he had to put on to fully assemble his suit was his spider-like mask. It slid onto Peter's face with ease, his hair making him look like he had 2 more brains. His new ability of sticking to any surface helped him climb up the building, finally reaching the top of the tower. The wind that was previously not able to make its way in between the dark alleys, was now blowing full force, almost making the teen fall down. Either way, his body stood Its ground, going near the edge of the tower. His eyes were looking straight down, staring at all the tiny creatures walking around, cars driving and stopping whenever a red light lit up.

Just for reassurance, the cautious boy shot some tester webs, checking if they worked properly. Sure enough, the liquid quickly turned into a white web, sticking right onto the stone surface. So now, he either would have the time of his life, swinging around the city and letting people know that there was a new hero in town..

..or his body would get splattered into pieces on the cement walkway. His body being so morphed, no one would recognize him

Well by now, a normal human being would think about it beforehand. But since Peter probably had severe depression and needed professional help, his foot easily walked off the edge, making the body fall. He pushed the button on both of his web shooters, making two strings of webs leave the mechanism. Just before his body started to panic, actually realizing what he had just done, the strings dragged him in the right direction. All that anxiety had finally left his brain, his mind focusing on the great feeling of freedom. 

And oh boy did he love it.

 “ WOOOOHOOOOOoooooo ” His voice echoed through the big part of the city, some people raising their heads up out of confusion. When the breeze was hitting his body, creating more momentum to his movement, his body was hitting the business building

“ oughhh ..” He groaned, as he slid down the glass window.

*+~+*

For the rest of the night, Spiderman helped around however he could. In this case, he gave some directions for a group of lost tourists, gave belly rubs for each stray he passed along the way and prevented someone from stealing a bike! Although, Peter still wasn’t sure if the man was an actual robber. Either way, the teen was very proud of himself for everything he had done today. He still had to look out for the web shooters, not really knowing when he would run out of the sticky substance.

While Peter was checking the mechanisms on his wrists, kicking his feet on a random rooftop, an electric-like shock traveled across his spine, giving him a migraine. This was one of his new abilities that he was given, warning him from possible dangers. Although he would much likely prefer a less painful one, he didn’t dwell on it too much. The teenager started to look around for an oncoming threat that his senses were warning him about. His eyes finally landed on one of the vehicles, suspiciously driving full speed on a narrow street, while a group of people were crossing the road.

The man got straight to action, dropping his body off the high tower. The previously mentioned bus wasn’t stopping, the tiny hill making it drive even faster. Webs quickly covered up the buses wheels, barely doing anything to stop the speeding contraption. He then proceeded to shoot two of his web strings at it and try to change the direction of the speedy bus. The vehicle rapidly turned to the left, making it roll over. By now, the group of pedestrians crossing the street noticed the danger rapidly rolling down the hill, starting to scream for help.The teens head snapped towards the screaming voices, looking at the approaching threat. Out of reflex, the buttons on his wrist were pushed one last time,, pulling him towards the panicking people.

Right before the metal vehicle smashed the group, the hero's arms took the hit, his feet engraving his footsteps into the cement road. He grinded his teeth out of pain, the pressure of the metal object hurting his limbs. 

But Spiderman knew he had to bear it for a little longer. Those innocent people were counting on him. 

So he pushed

and pushed

and so it stopped.

Some passer-by started to clap, others joining him in celebrations. In seconds, everyone in the range of a kilometer could hear the loud applause. Teenagers, who were also watching the situation, recorded the whole scene on their phones, uploading it to the internet. He slowly peaks through the window of the wrecked bus, seeing interviewers already running to the catastrophe. Although the boy would love to appear on the news and tell the world who he is, Peter was badly injured. The bus putting a huge amount of pressure on the teens legs and arms was too much to handle, causing his shoulder to dislocate. He also had bleeding wounds that required professional help. 

So when the influencers, bloggers and news reporters got to the scene, their curious and excited looks on their faces quickly turned to confusion, after the hero was nowhere to be seen.

*+~+*

Parker reached his spot, the spot being his tiny apartment on the 5th floor. He shakily opened the door, letting himself into the empty room that only contained a lonely mattress in the corner of the room, with a tiny desk put next to it. There was nothing else on the old wooden desk, other than a bunch of paper notes, his laptop atop of everything else. The kitchen was even emptier, only having an old fridge alongside with a rusty stove and a sink. The dusty kitchen counters had nothing else other than a yellowish microwave and a toaster.

He then opened the doors to his bathroom, not enough room to fully open the doorway. After closing the toilet shell, his body decided to absolutely collapse onto the seat out of exhaustion. Peter quickly brought himself back to consciousness, taking off his mask to let him breathe. His hand reached for the first aid kit that was hidden in the little shelf, hung up right above the sink. The bandages wrapped around his injuries were soaked with wound disinfectant, making him hiss each time the chemical touched his open injuries.

Now came the ugly part, where the boy had to put his dislocated shoulder in place. He could go to the hospital, he could ask for help. They would put his bone back in place, in exchange for putting him back into a foster family. This option was automatically out the window. His hand reached for his phone in his back pocket. Since it was his right shoulder that got humbled, it took him a few tries to enter the right passcode with his left hand. Not even a minute later, a video started to play, showing a doctor explaining how to deal with dislocated bones

Thank god that barely anyone lived in the building. If anyone heard Peters screeching out of pain, everyone would think that he was getting skinned alive. The painful process had begun, full of groans, yelling and basically everything but swearing. Thankfully, it took only 14 minutes to hear the long awaiting click (yes, he counted). A big sigh of relief filled the tiny bathroom, sweat dripping off of his forehead. 

“ god it’s over.. ” He mumbled under his breath, extremely happy that his bad luck was done with him for today. 

The lack of sleep finally got to the teen, after all the adrenaline escaped his body. Without even taking off his costume, Peter dropped dead on his mattress. While his mind only wanted to sleep for another month, his ass had to wake up for work at the cafe tomorrow morning. All he managed to do was to set an alarm, before his vision turned to black and his brained turned off for tonight,

Chapter Text

The past few weeks have been rough for Tony, attending more meetings in a week, than during his whole career. He knew that putting together the Avengers was going to take a lot of work, time, and patience. It was only after the 5th meeting of the day and strong will to keep himself awake, that the man realized he needed to relax at least for a moment. That was a great opportunity to visit the dark alleyway cafe again.

During his ride to the center of the city, the mechanic was also catching up on some news. Of course, his eyes were immediately drawn to a bunch of articles talking about how the Avenegers Inc. was a bad idea, mentioning all sorts of damage they have caused. Every post being all the same shit talk-

His fingers scrolled down, revealing a thumbnail of a new video he hadn’t seen. It revealed a person dressed in some sort of spider-like costume. He tapped on the screen, playing the video. The speakers started to play multiple different screams of pedestrians watching the scene.

The camera pointed at the approaching bus, actively driving at full speed. Suddenly, a man with a red mask covering his face swung down a building and got into action. The hero tried to stop the speeding vehicle, engraving his legs further into the cement. Luckily enough, the bus had been stopped before it reached the others and the people on the street had been saved.

While other people, who were gathered around the scene, were rooting and cheering for the unknown superhero, the person recording started to rush to the possibly injured hero. When they finally reached their desired place, no one was behind the wrecked convoy.

Tony’s eyes were focused on the road, but his mind was now filled with curiosity about the new mysterious boy. But he didn’t need to think about that right now. C'mon, he was going to relax, wasn’t he?

“Friday, put on the radio” The man spoke, muting the video playing in the background

„On it boss” an AI voice responded to his request. The music played for the rest of the trip, the radio even playing one of his favorite AC/DC songs. Although the man had been trying to distract himself, his thoughts were all around the place, questioning who could be under the mask. Analyzing his height and poorly made suit, told him that it must be an unprofessional newcomer between twelve to sixteen years old. Unless he was a grown man, that had particularly short legs. Tony wouldn’t mind another member on the team, but seeing how much of a hustle was to keep the original team going, he decided to just keep it in mind.

The thing that made all the questions go away, was seeing the long awaiting sign above the cafe doors.

*~*

After the incident, Peter’s injuries quickly healed by themselves. It took only about a day or two for the bloody wounds to fade away like nothing happened. Anyone who would glance at the teenager, wouldn’t notice a single scratch on him. The boy absolutely loved his new healing ability, being able to take any type of damage and after few days, he would be healthier than ever

But good things pair perfectly with bad ones. Peter was mopping the floors of the cafe, when his stomach demanded more food. Even when he only ate about an hour ago, his fast metabolism just kept screwing the boy up. Sadly, he couldn’t afford eating more than a typical human being. He didn’t even have enough money to eat properly for a growing teenager. So even when the growling beneath his chest was becoming even more desperate and the warm pastry’s were looking at him from the distance, Peter had to deny.

He was fighting with his mind, when the bell above the front door jingled, introducing a new costumer. When Peter’s head looked back, probably expecting that one elderly man who just kept on coming to the cafe every once in a while, he was not expecting to see his billionaire idol entering his cafe.

again.

“Good Mornin’” Stark greeted the young cashier, finding a spot for himself, after seeing him mopping the tiles. This time, Peter was way more awake, and way more conscious of his surroundings.

And way more anxious.

“G-Good morning!” He stuttered, unable to speak properly. Tony fucking Stark came to his cafe. AGAIN.

The teen took some silent deep breathes, before turning back to his little register. His whole attention was brought to the sitting man, patiently waiting probably because he wanted the boy to finish cleaning the floor. Before Stark stood up from his seat, Peter eyes noticed a familiar silhouette on the man’s phone, dressed in red and blue suit-

Tony Stark was right in front of him, causing the boy to come back from his little world. His anxiousness had also came back.

“Good morning sir. What can I get you?” He responded with a hint of shakiness in his voice.

The man stood there for a while, looking pastries behind a glass shield. This time, they were fresh and even steamy.

“Yeah, well how about a cappuccino with chocolate drizzle and two chocolate muffins?” Stark calmly asked, already reaching for his wallet. The teenager counted the total amount on his old register, before speaking again

“That would be 10,40 sir-” Peter was now keeping all his shakiness inside of him, not wanting to disturb the man. He really didn’t want to bother the billionaire, since he clearly wanted to just have some coffee. Because of that, his body became stiff and unable to move.

Tony laid a 20 dollar bill on the counter in front of him, before sliding his wallet back to his front pocket.

“Sorry, I don’t carry around any spare coins. Keep the rest.” He said, totally unbothered by how much he overpaid.

Peter wanted to intervene, saying he didn’t need to be so generous, but just before he could stutter anything out, the customer was back in his seat.

It took him only a few minutes to make his order, placing the two muffins on a plate, alongside with the steaming hot coffee. His balance was perfect, not spilling a single drop of the drink during his walk to the table.

“Here you go sir, enjoy” The boy placed everything down in front of him, Iron-man’s eyes looking upwards at the barista.

“Thank you.. uh” His eyes narrowed, reading a small badge on his apron. “Peter”

“Um. You’re welcome sir” Peter answered, clearly not expecting him to call him by his name. Then he rushed back to the little chair, the stack of books awaiting for the ambitious man to come back and study again. He opened the last book he was reading, bookmarking the last sentence he stopped on. As he was reading through the book, a wall of concern, happiness and confusion was blocking everything that wanted to cross the path to his mind. His eyes focused on the tiny phone in Starks hand, the screen showing the same situation from different perspective of his most known action.

How does he know about Spider man? Have I gone famous? Is he suspicious of me?

Those questions and many more, caused the words printed on a thin piece of paper, turn into gibberish.

*~*

The curiosity took over Tony’s mind, wanting to discover who is the Queen’s little hero. He had searched for more information and scrolled through a bunch of articles, while enjoying his sweet treat. The warm muffin was far more enjoyable when fresh, after eating a stale one last time he visited. And the coffee did not disappoint, being as good, if not better, than the last time. After hours of searching, sadly there wasn’t any information about the young vigilante. All he learned from this articles was that his name was “Spider-man” and that he had some enhanced powers.

He sighed, rubbing his face with his palm. Tony glanced at the kid behind the counter. Sure enough, the boy had his face buried In the book, actively studying. The man really appreciated the worker for, even when he knew who Tony was, never asking for a photo or an autograph, giving him the experience of having a basic life, that he had never had, and never will.

He checked the time on his wrist watch, the two lines showing 9:30 PM. He got lost in his thoughts again, which will bring him more frustration in the future, due to the amount of paper work waiting for him in the office. But at this moment, he only appreciated how much his mind rested during those few thoughtful hours. The seat let out a squeaky noise, after being pulled back, filling up the quietness of the closed interior. He took the dirty dishes back to the counter where the teenage worker had fallen asleep.

Tony was impressed and also concerned on how much the boy studied, clearly leaving him exhausted at the end of the day. As he was about to peek at whatever this teen was so eager to learn, the man quickly backed away. That wasn’t the right decision to make. Why would he invade his privacy, when the kid clearly could mind his own business from whatever he was doing.

Instead, he took a pen and a piece of paper and started to scribble something on it. Finishing his letter, he quietly opened his wallet and placed a hundred dollar bill on the table, next to the previous note. He took one last glance, before leaving the place empty again.

What Tony did was a very nice gesture. Anyone who would receive a note with some money from Tony Stark himself would be more than happy. But, while the message was supposed to be something nice, In this case, these words might mean something else to the young waiter.

„Don’t give up on your dream - TS”

Shit. Did he find out?