The system was going great. Tony didn't suspect a thing and Peter was living happy. He had a family and food and a warm bed and Tony and the rest of the Avengers and all of these other awesome things. Peter really couldn't be happier. Unless of course Aunt May was there but other than that.

Oh. And the fact that his happiness had a deadline. He had only been living with Tony for three days but the days were passing by in a blur. Peter knew that he couldn't just ask to stay at the tower. He didn't want to be a burden.

On the other hand, living with Tony and the rest of the Avengers at the tower would be Awesome with a capital A. Even if he was a burden.

Peter continued the ongoing argument in his head, trying to reason that living out of dumpsters wouldn't be that bad. He was a little worried about his metabolism and school but he was sure there was a homeless shelter nearby that he could hang out at periodically. It wouldn't be that bad.

The teenager shook his head, effectively clearing his head of all negative thoughts, and tried to focus on the conversation in front of him. Tony and Steve were bickering about when Steve's birthday really was. The billionaire knew it was December 16 but Steve stood by the public date of July 4th.

At that moment, Bucky walked in and listened to the conversation for a second before saying "Steve's birthday is December 16", grabbing a plum, and walking out of the kitchen. It was silent for a second before Tony jumped out of his chair and shouted "I WAS RIGHT!" and a few avengers exchanged money.

After Tony stopped doing his victory dance (which looked suspiciously like a lap dance), Steve looked up at him and asked "how did you know?"

Tony shrugged. "My dad remembered it more than he remembered mine. The real question is why did you say your birthday was the Fourth of July?"

Steve looked embarrassed. "I was on tour and I wanted to seem patriotic, plus I kinda panicked, so when someone asked I just blurted it out. In hindsight, I seemed kinda jingoistic. It helped sell more war bonds, though" He scratched the back of his neck, his telltale sign of embarrassment.

Surprisingly, Tony didn't laugh (at least not out loud) and instead gave an awkward pat on the back. Steve looked almost apologetic at the fact his birthday mattered more to Howard Stark then Tony's.

Peter's head snapped up from his empty plate of food at his sudden revelation. "THATS WHY YOU TACKLED BUCKY OUT THE WINDOW LAST YEAR!"

Everyone erupted into fits of laughter as they recalled the fond memory. Peter continued in between giggles. "I thought that was just something old people did! Or like an inside joke!"

The team laughed even harder (if that was possible) and they shared their own stories of inside jokes and other funny anecdotes.

Peter was having a great time. He truly felt like a part of the team, like a part of the family. But deep down the negativity and doubts continued swirling, the sinking feeling in his gut at the deadline on his happiness.

Tony must've noticed Peter's forlorn expression that he tried to hide (and ultimately failed). "Hey, kiddo. What's wrong?" All traces of jokes were gone from his voice, his tone showing his seriousness.

The teenager stammered as he struggled to explain himself. "I-I-I um I just thought about how um I miss my aunt."

Technically not a lie. Not that he was going to say that out loud.

The Avengers sympathized with the grieving teen and instantly began to comfort him. Peter was taken by surprise when Clint yelled out 'group hug!' but didn't complain. He even welcomed the embrace.

Peter was really going to miss moments like these.

——————-

Before he knew it, the two weeks was over and it was time to return to Aunt May's apartment. At least that's what he told the Avengers. In reality he found a nice tree to take shelter in. He had a couple hundred dollars from odd jobs but he knew it wouldn't last long.

Thankfully, it only rained once within the first week. And Peter's body was beginning to slowly adjust to less food. It was a little difficult to do homework but he just sat in a cafe and did his work, ordering a single small coffee in order to tide over his aching stomach and ensure he didn't get kicked out.

Another thing that remained somewhat normal was the afternoons spent at the tower. Twice a week, Peter would get picked up from school by Happy and drive to Stark Tower before spending the rest of the afternoon with him and occasionally the other Avengers. They worked on their suits, random projects, and even homework. Peter usually stayed for dinner and occasionally got permission to spend the night.

Lately, he had been increasing the visits. Hopefully, Tony didn't notice. There were a lot of things Peter was hoping Tony didn't notice like his weight loss and the increasing dark circles under his eyes and his tired appearance and the decrease of smiles and a whole bunch of other stuff.

But (un)thankfully for Peter, Tony didn't notice. The billionaire's every waking thought was about a new threat that the Avengers would need to eradicate. When Tony wasn't with Peter, and sometimes even with the teenager present, he was working on a plan to defeat the villain. He had to not only form a strategy, he also had to make weapons and shields and armor and design a bigger better ship. He needed to protect his friends, his family.

So Peter helped. While Tony was under the metaphorical hood of the latest jet, Peter was standing beside with a toolbox at the ready, prepared to help in any way. All he wanted to do was ease his mentor's stress. And maybe prove he was strong enough and responsible enough to be an Avenger and show he was a real ally to the team. While the heroes were all nice to Peter, they still doubted his limits and abilities and didn't have as strong as a connection with him. Tony, on the other hand, trusted the teenager with his life but that was due in part to the time spent together outside of the battlefield and not to mention they had a natural father-son relationship.

Not that either would admit it.

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After about two weeks of living on the streets and the occasional stay at a homeless shelter, Peter realized he didn't have the necessary supplies to survive much longer on his own. He had less than $20 left and was in desperate need of new clothes. Occasionally, Tony would slip a few dollars into the teenager's backpack or in between couch cushions at the apartment in order to help in anyway he could.

But the billionaire had been so distracted by the threat of alien invasion that he forgot to take care of his favorite person in the world.

Peter knew Tony was anxious and scared for the attack so he didn't take it to heart. Instead, he continued working hard at school and during the 'internship'. After the whole Homecoming thing, Tony had given him a real internship that just so happened to be completely different from the normal internships and was full of nepotism. For one, Peter spent most of his time in his personal lab given to him as a birthday gift from Tony himself. For another, he rarely worked with the other interns with the exception of helping with their projects considering he was at a much higher level than the others (despite the fact he was still in high school and the others were in college, a few even had phds).

It was at the end of the session, late on a Thursday night. Tony had invited Peter to spend the night at the tower (despite it being the fourth sleepover since Sunday) and the teenager had obviously said yes. The two were preparing for sleep when Tony noticed just how much thinner Peter looked. He knew the teenager would never tell him if something was wrong because he was afraid of being a burden. So Tony figured out a different way to help without letting Peter know he was helping.

While the teenager was in the bathroom, Tony whipped out a large mixing bowl and grabbed all the necessary ingredients. First went in the dry ingredients which sent a large cloud of powder into the air. If Deadpool was there he probably would've made some joke about cocaine or tried to snort it. But thankfully he wasn't present during this story. After the first step, Tony poured in the milk and vanilla extract with the eggs. Two minutes of stirring later and he had cookie dough.

Tony had chosen the dessert because it would give the growing teen more of the necessary calories he required with the whole increased metabolism thing. Plus both Peter and Tony had bonded over their love for chocolate chip cookies and hatred for oatmeal raisin. The billionaire had just finished placing the first tray into the oven when Peter walked out of the bathroom. Because of his powers, the hero weighed a lot less than he should. Meaning he was able to sneak around much more easily. So while Tony had his back facing the bowl of dough, Peter grabbed a large spoonful and quickly shoved it into his mouth.

He tried not to groan out in pleasure at the sweet taste of cookie dough, one of his favorite snacks. Tony didn't hear him and had moved on to placing the next tray in the oven so Peter grabbed another spoonful. Feeling bold, the young hero took yet another large portion of dough but this time Tony turned around.

And screamed.

Believe me when I say it was hilarious. Tony's eyes were huge and his voice was higher pitched than Ariana Grande singing whistle notes. Plus he jumped really high. Which was impressive. He almost hit the ceiling. The only person so far to reach the ceiling just from jumping was Peter himself. Some of the other Avengers used their powers (or ladders in Clint's case) to reach the ceiling.

Question. How many ladders does Tony need to change a light bulb?

Answer. None. He only needs Peter to scare the living daylights out of him.

Speaking of Peter, the delinquent teenager was literally rolling on the floor. Tony was a little concerned to be honest. It didn't look like he was getting any air. But Peter didn't die (even though he deserved to for giving Tony a heart attack) and slowly his laughter faded into a large grin. Tony just stood patiently while he waited for him to calm down enough to talk.

It took almost 5 minutes before Peter was relaxed enough for Tony's liking. In all honesty, he would've liked for the kid to pull himself together a little more but you don't always get what you want.

"Ya done laughing, kid?" Tony asked with an unamused expression on his face.

Peter had been done but after seeing Tony's face he burst into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. The billionaire decided to wait it out but after three minutes, he left the room, muttering something about kids these days.

The arachnid of course picked up on that with his super hearing and retorted with "I'm not a kid, Mr. Stark!"

Tony just threw a hand up in the air, effectively dismissing it. Peter could tell he meant it in a joking manner so he didn't take any offense. Unfortunately for Peter, Tony had his back to him. If the billionaire had been facing him, Peter would've seen the grin on his face.

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