Bug boy || Peter Parker

Thirty two

Peter watched anxiously as the iron man suit lowered to hover in the air in front of him. The jets on the feet just about keeping it above the ground. He didn't turn, mask clutched in his hand as nerves building in his stomach, eyes still fixed down on the river below. Dread and guilt kicking him in the lungs as on the water, rescue boats still circled the now welded together ferry. Around them the sky was just about turning golden with evening. "Previously on Peter's show, I told you to stay away from this", Tony's voice echoed through the speakers as the suit lowered. "Instead you hacked a multimillion dollar suit that my son helped me build so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing I told you not to do".

"Is everyone okay?" Peter asked instead of answering. Voice with a note of defeat.

"No thanks to you", Tony's voice was icy.

Peter whirled. "No thanks to me?" He turned and hopped off the wall onto the roof, one arm gesturing out to the cityscape behind him. "Those weapons are out there and I tried to tell you about it but you didn't listen. None of this wouldn't have happened if you had just listened to me!" He hated how high his voice got towards the end, how childishly pleading. "If you even cared, you'd actually be here".

With a metallic noise of gears shifting the front of the suit folded back to reveal Tony watching him. The man was dressed in a smart all black suit and his face was unreadable. Peter took a step back as he stepped out onto the roof and advanced a few steps. Peter retreating. "I did listen kid. Who do you think called the FBI Huh? Do you know that I was the only one who believed to you? Everyone else said that I was crazy for recruiting a fourteen year old kid"-

"I'm fifteen", Peter corrected in a small voice.

"No! This is where you zip it!" Tony's voice rose and he kept on walking slowly forwards. Peter watching his face as he kept on matching his steps back. "The adult is talking. What if somebody had died tonight? Different story right? Cause that's on you". He jabbed a finger in the air at Peter's chest. The boy gritting his teeth to not show emotion as Tony continued. "And if you died, I think that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience. Not after Tate. My son is a hero. A hero who will never be able to skate or walk without pain again. His legs are damaged badly enough to affect him for the rest of his life".

"But he has been recovering", Peter could hear the worry in his voice.

Tony sighed. "He has. Tate is nothing but a fighter but these injuries will affect him for the rest of his life. He will never skate again like he used too. He will never be able to walk without the concern of pain. And while he will get the use of his limbs almost back to the point of being normal, what do you think will happen when it gets cold? Or when he hits his knee at just the wrong place? Or if he has too much fun skating and wakes up the next day in pain? Injuries like that linger like a shadow. A constant reminder. I should know". He sighed and rubbed his fingers into the bridge of his nose, other hand brushing over his chest where the arc reactor heart glowed. Then he looked up at Peter again. This time his eyes were hurting and sad, the face of a father. "And that Peter, that pain that my son will have to face, does face everyday. That is on me. Because I gave him the suit and let him out there. And I know that Tate made his choices but as a father, I should have saved him. I should have saved Rhodey. But the fact is that I didn't and now my son will forever bare those scars. That will be on my conscience for the rest of my life and I will spend the rest of my life working to make that right because I was the one who allowed my son to be put in that positions where he had to make a choice about saving someone at the cost of himself".

Tony paused to take in a deep breath. "Now Peter. If you died, that would be on me too and I don't need another kid on my conscience. It's far too heavy in there as it is".