Chapter Text
When Tony Stark was 38 years old, he had his first true crisis of faith. Out of the ashes of his beliefs rose the Iron Man armor and an unrepentant desire to do good, be better. When he was 41, he found his people. People who had sworn to protect the world just as he had. Their reasons were different, but for once, Tony Stark, boy genius, billionaire, eccentric had someone who was walking the same path as him, instead of running to catch up to his ideals.
He should have known it would never last.
After Tony Stark became Iron Man, he had no end of people who adored him and stood by him. His heroic deeds were enough to camouflage his inflationary words, his actions idealized, his team his new family. There was Steve Rogers, who rammed his father’s shield in his chest for daring to be angry at the man who killed his parents; Brucie and Thor who left and never looked back; Clint who was never his to begin with; and of course, darling Nat, who smiled so prettily and switched sides just as quickly.
He would have been a fool if he hadn’t been expecting it. Needless to say, rumors of him being a genius had been greatly exaggerated. He hadn’t expected it to go so wrong so quickly.
Before Tony Stark became Iron Man, he was an unrepentant jerk with few redeeming qualities. Still, he was never alone. He had Obadiah Stane, the traitorous godfather who had once left him dying alone on the floor of his own lab; his platypus, Rhodey, who was so tangled in Accords bureaucracy it would be a miracle they would be allowed to legally smile at each other again (the only man who stood by him his whole life and paid for it with his own legs); and of course Happy and his girlfriend, Pepper.
They were all he had left.
As he stepped off the Quinjet after a long hectic meeting about the Accords, he had a headache that had been battering at him for over 2 hours and a need for comfort that could only be sated by Pepper’s arms. Even when they had grown laxer and her smile had gotten colder, she was still always there.
When he stepped off the landing pad and walked the path to his penthouse, even then he understood somehow. Knew what was happening in the back of his mind. Knew it in the same way she had gotten colder and his bodyguard guiltier.
He didn’t stop to even take a drink in the kitchen. Just walked into his bedroom, past the open empty drawers, past the closet that no longer held Pepper’s collection of luxury heels that she always made him buy in dozens. He walked to the side table next to his bed where not just one page but a bunch of papers lay, Pep’s handwriting still as loopy and bold as ever.
He glanced enough to see her sorry before he looked up to stare blankly at the ceiling. She had never said sorry to him before. She had never done anything like this before either.
He wished he was angry, wished he felt betrayed or hurt or something instead of this hopeless swirl of resignation. As if it were just inevitable, as if he knew it just had to happen.
(What else was left for them to take?)
“She is gone, isn’t she?”
“Sorry boss,” FRIDAY said. “There were no protocols restricting her from packing up and leaving. Happy was with her. He left a video message if you’d like to see it.”
“No - nope. I’m sure it... I’m good.”
“He said he was sorry,” FRIDAY was, despite his best efforts, simply not as good as consoling him as JARVIS had been. She was clinical where he had been warm, cold edges where he had been an understanding AI.
“Of course,” Tony huffed a humourless laugh. He picked up the pages and dropped them carelessly in the shredder beside his closet. Watched them become small pieces of incoherent nonsense. “Tell Mr Hogan I don’t need him to report for duty again, effective immediately. Tell Miss Potts the same. I will handle my security and I can manage my own company.”
He loosened his tie and untucked his shirt as he sat heavily on his bed. His headache was a pounding inferno that made him feel more tired than anything. Tomorrow was another day of Accords reading, and an important board meeting for the company beside.
“And inform them they will have their paychecks in their accounts on the same date every month. But if I see them again, I will not be held responsible for my actions. Retract everyone’s access if they are at or above Level 9. There should be no individual above Level 8, save for my access to Level 10.”
“Boss, I-”
“Mute,” he snapped and lay down heavily on his king-sized bed. He just needed a few minutes to breathe before he would get the energy to hunt down some meds to reduce the pounding in his head. He was sure there must be some somewhere in his humongous 30,000-square-foot empty penthouse.
If nothing else, he had his 100 grand worth open bar to fall back on. There was nothing a few drinks couldn’t fix.
“All good, kid?” Iron Man asked Spider-Man who was sitting looking comically dejected atop the Statue of Liberty.
Peter was startled and nearly fell before he sat up sideways in a way that defied gravity for everyone not bitten by a radioactive spider. “Mr Stark!” He took off his mask to beam up at the Iron suit.
“That’s me, don’t wear it out, kid,” the Iron suit nodded.
“I’m okay, it’s all good,” Peter rushed to get out.
The Iron suit opened as Tony Stark stepped out carefully in his suit, sunglasses in place. Sniffled as he caught sight of Peter’s open face, eyes wide and trusting and awed as they always were when the two met. Getting scolded like a child and being humiliated after the Ferry incident had not dimmed the hero worship in his eyes even a little. Rescuing the rich man’s plane had not ended with Peter asking for a gift or a favour or even needling to get his suit back. Even his months long radio silence did not seemed to have fazed the awe in his eyes.
It was gestures like these that made Spider-Man Iron Man’s favourite hero.
“Really? Then why haven’t I been getting any of your reports, underoos?”
Peter tilted his head, perplexed. “I give them to Happy, like I always do. I don’t send you my reports.”
Tony didn’t feel angry at hearing his best friend’s name. Wasn’t he supposed to hate the man for stealing his girl? Wasn’t he supposed to hate Pepper for leaving him when he needed her the most? What Tony did feel was the same outrage he had felt when the papers had splashed his misfortune for the world to mock at; the same rage he had felt when he had walked in his first meeting as the new CEO to muffled snickers and looks of pity; the same emptiness he felt every time he walked home to his absurdly empty penthouse which housed an even emptier man.
He hadn’t expected this sort of mocking from Peter of all people.
But why not? Why wouldn’t everyone get their kicks in while he was down?
“I would give you one second to really, and I mean, really rethink your answer, before I withdraw my sponsorship and support from the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.”
Peter froze and looked at Tony wide-eyed.
“What?” Tony sneered. “You think that just because I am down some Avengers, I would take shit from you just to keep you on my team. Enhanced and mutants are like a dime a dozen now, kid. Show me some damn respect before I really show where you lie on this damn pyramid!”
Peter blinked rapidly and stuttered through something incoherent.
“Get it together, kid. I don’t have time for this! Why aren’t you reporting your patrols to me?!”
Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. He looked Tony straight in the eye, despite the glint of fear in his eyes, his head angled down in submission. “I don’t have your number, sir. I didn’t know I was supposed to send my reports to you. I’m really sorry.”
Tony exhaled, told himself to calm down. He had spent a month being the butt of jokes about his girlfriend running off his driver. He might have gotten a tad sensitive. Especially now that he had found a kid who would bear the grunt of his anger and not complain. And even if he did, so what? A little kid’s anger would hold no consequences for him. He had to perform the dancing monkey for the courts and the press and his employees and the shareholders. He didn’t have to bend over backwards for Peter too.
Easy mark, his brain whispered. He guiltily battled it aside.
He took a deep breath. “And why did you keep sending your reports to Happy?”
Peter looked confused. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Tony looked at him stonily. “Well, you would, if you were an idiot.” Tony tapped at the temple of Peter’s head rudely as the kid flinched. “Is it all empty in here? You know what. I’ll even help you out. I’m a nice guy like that. Give me the headlines for the past month.”
“Hea-headlines?”
“Chop-chop, kid.”
“Um… you introduced an integrated reactor technology for clean cars that would potentially reduce emissions from traditional cars by 90%. Of course, the reactor is well integrated and tamper-proof to avoid such technology falling into enemy hands. Really ingenious. There was Emerson’s newest paper on mathematical improbabilities which has too many assumptions to make for a practical life application. It’s just, I liked the thought experiment. And then we had Pym’s research on Quantum Mechanics which was just-”
Tony held up a hand to shut up the kid. “I forgot how big of a nerd you were. I meant more along the lines of general headlines, not Nerd International.”
Peter blushed. “I don’t really watch the news, Mr Stark. I’m really so-”
“What do you mean, you don’t watch the news? Everybody watches the news.”
Peter shrugged, eyes still wary. “If it’s something really important then I’ll probably know when everyone is talking about it. But I don’t want to know whatever tragedy or scandal the world is distracting itself with at the moment. In my experience, the biggest tragedies tend to go unreported and unheard. Besides, I am the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. I deal with my neighbourhood. The rest of the world can figure the rest of it among themselves.”
“Interesting take on something so universal. Never heard someone say news was useless in so many words before.”
Peter looked down. “I know it might not make sense to you. But I… There was this saying our neighbour used to say back when I was little. Empty vessels make the most noise. Everyone loves to be outraged, Mr Stark. They are too tired, too bored of their own lives. They love scandals and they love to scream about the injustice the world is going through. How many of them do you think actually contribute to the world in a meaningful way? It just feels like a drain on my energy. Hearing about something outrageous that I can’t change. I’d rather spend my energy on things that I can change.”
Tony chuckled humorlessly. “Must say never heard that before. Watching the news would have saved you from this faux pas if nothing else. Happy is no longer my Head of Security,” Tony said, looking seriously at Peter to gauge his reaction. Peter was visibly startled. “He ran away with Pepper, my girlfriend and CEO. So now, I’m short one head of security, one best friend, one girlfriend and one CEO.”
“Shit,” Peter said, wide-eyed.
“Language,” Tony said instinctively. There was something outrageous about seeing a baby-faced Peter curse that made Tony feel like an old man.
Peter ignored Tony. “I’m so sorry, Mr Stark. I - I didn’t know. I can’t believe, I just-” Peter wrung his hands. “How could he do this to you? I thought you two were friends!”
“Yeah, well, I thought Cap was my friend too once. I am starting to realise I am not good at this friendship thing.”
Peter looked unsure on how to proceed now. “Are you alright?” Immediate concern, no grudges over how Tony had treated him before. Tony felt a twinge of guilt.
“Something is coming. Something big. We need to be prepared,” Tony said, ignoring the kid’s question. He has nightmares every day. He doesn’t dream of Cap’s shield in his chest, doesn’t even dream of his ex running away so cruelly, not even his best friend hitting the ground. He only dreams of the wormhole and the sight he saw there that he can never scrub off his memory, no matter how hard he tries or how big of a distraction he finds.
His world has turned out to be a lie, a bigger mess than he could ever even fathom and he still has the same nightmares he did before it all went belly up.
“What are you going to do now?” Peter asked quietly.
Tony exhaled. “Manage the Accords to something coherent. Run my company. Figure out what to do about the Avengers now that I am the last man standing.”
“You’re not alone.”
Tony scoffed. “Don’t make me laugh. Who do I have, you?”
“Yes, me! And I am not the only one protecting New York. Daredevil’s got his eye on Hell’s Kitchen, and there’s Jessica Jones. The Fantastic Four! If push came to shove, I’ll hook you up with Deadpool even! He owes me one. He is kinda crazy but he can do whatever if you pay him well.” Peter paused. “He doesn’t hurt kids or anything though. He is not bad bad , you know and-”
“Small chop, kid,” Tony said tiredly. “They’re far from enough. We need Avengers-level enhanced, not some vigilantes hunting down petty crime.”
Peter nearly vibrated from indignation. “With all due respect, Mr Stark, don’t you think you’re being biased? I can and have lifted over 20 tons and I have more enhancements than anyone else on record.”
“This isn’t about you-”
“And, Daredevil can hear anyone’s heartbeat on the other side of the city.”
“Kid! You got anyone who can, even on a team of 2-3 people bring down a Hydra base? Cuz that’s the level of skill I want.”
“I mean-”
“Thought so,” Tony scoffed.
“Deadpool can do it alone,” Peter mused. “He just needs a minder you know. He can be a little crazy sometimes. Wolverine can do it too. Deadpool and Wolverine got some history though. I dunno. And-”
“You really think that this Deadpool character can bring down a Hydra base without getting exploded?”
“I didn’t say that. I just. He doesn’t really care if he explodes. He sets himself on fire for the fun of it every few days. And when he gets really pissed at himself, he shoots himself in the head.” At Tony’s perplexed look, he elaborated. “He is unkillable. Maybe immortal. I dunno. Wolverine’s the same way. He’s been around since before Cap even and he’s never aged.”
“There are immortal enhanced out there? And I didn’t know?” Impossible. He is Tony Stark. His intel is impeccable.
“They kinda stay off the radar,” Peter explained. “People go crazy when they hear about immortality and they just want a cure to everything in one go, you know. Cure cancer, cure death. They don’t love it. And if some crazy scientist hears about it, they don’t want it on their records. Too much competition.”
“But if someone finds out about them, they make them disappear anyway. And because those scientists never left records…”
“Pretty much.” Peter shrugged. “I meet so many people swinging around. Like I said, I never need the news.” Peter looked apologetic at the mention. But Tony doesn’t care. His aim is focused again. He had felt the loss when Ultron failed and the team scattered; the fear that he wasn’t good enough to deal with whatever would come out of a hole in the sky next. But now… everything is different now.
“Spider-Man, how would you feel about Iron Man giving a helping hand on your daily patrols?”
Peter’s excited look is answer enough.