————

"Please pick up please pick up please pick up" Peter silently chanted. The Starkphone continued to ring. "C'mon c'mon, Mr. Stark" He almost whined.

It stopped ringing. Peter's face lit up, waiting for Tony to start talking when- "You've reached the voicemail of Tony Stark. Don't leave a message at the beep unless you're important 'cuz I won't listen."

Beeeeeeeeep

Peter hung up the phone. He obviously wasn't important enough. Instead of wallowing in self pity, Peter grabbed his red Jansport backpack, filled with his meager possessions, and swung off into the busy New York night, ignoring the tears welling in his eyes.

—————-

It had been a long day. Between school, the decathlon team practice, tutoring, the Stark Internship, and Spider-Man, Peter was exhausted. He had been working nonstop and all he wanted to do was literally crawl into his soft bed and sleep for three days straight. But first, there was homework to do. Peter was so tired, that he didn't lock the door before dropping from the ceiling. There wasn't a need to. Everything was quiet and dark and just like he had left it before his patrol. It was normal.

So while he was taking off his mask, he was distracted. Peter didn't notice the door opening or footsteps approaching. He didn't notice until the lights flicked on and illuminated the messy room and May screamed "what the fuck?!"

Peter whipped around as he finished pulling the red and blue mask off of his surprised face, basically sealing his fate and fully revealing his identity.

"Y-y-you're Spider-Man?" She stuttered in disbelief.

"Wha-? N- no! I'm not- I'm not Spider-Man"

May looked at him like he was stupid. "You're wearing the suit"

Peter looked down at himself, as if he forgot he what he was wearing. He began to shake his head "this- this is a- a- a costume!" He smiled, proud of his cover.

His aunt didn't buy it though.

"P-pajamas?" Even Peter didn't sound convinced.

"I can't believe you" May spoke after a long silence. She sounded disappointed, but it quickly turned to anger."After everything I've done for you, this is how you repay me!"

She took a few steps closer but Peter quickly backed away with his hands in the air. He didn't recognize the anger in his aunt's normally kind brown eyes. It was as if she was a completely different person than she was only a few hours ago.

"Aunt May, please. I-" his voice cracked with emotion, mainly fear and sadness.

"Zip it!" She screamed. "Get out of my apartment. Go!"

He stood frozen in shock for a second, shaking his head and willing it to not be true. Please let this be a nightmare, he begged. Peter closed his eyes and wished hard to wake up but was instead met with a book nearly hitting him in the face.

Shocked, he jumped backwards and fired a web, hitting Aunt May.

"You ungrateful brat!" She screamed.

"May, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to! You scared me an-" Peter tried to apologize.

"Are you blaming me? Get out of my apartment now!"

Another book went flying past.

Aunt May nearly growled. "I said 'get out'!"

Peter didn't need to be told again. He was definitely not in the mood to be hit in the head with another large, heavy object. Grabbing his backpack, he threw in a few pieces of clothes before opening the window and jumping out into the night. He didn't look back once.

-----------

It was at least fifteen minutes later before Peter finally stopped swinging his way through the city. His arms burned from overuse while his cheeks burned from tears. Looking around him, Peter noticed he was in Central Park, only a few blocks from Stark Tower. He debated on whether or not to see Tony.

Without realizing it, he began moving once again, this time with a destination in mind. The cool wind whipped his face as he fired web after web, each shot bringing him closer to Stark Tower.

While he usually entered through a window specially designed for Spider-Man entries, Peter decided to go through the lobby. The gorgeous entrance was empty save for a receptionist named Sam. Peter gave a small wave before tapping his ID card against the scanner. The machine turned green and unlocked the door leading to the elevator reserved for the Avengers and their families.

Peter spent enough time around the tower with Tony to know his non existent sleep schedule. At this time of night (or technically morning), the billionaire was most likely holed away in his workshop. JARVIS knew Peter was there to see Tony so the elevator began moving towards his location without asking. The ride was short due to Stark Tech and sooner than he would've liked, Peter was standing outside Tony's lab, unprepared to face him.

The walls dividing the hallway from Tony's personal lab/workshop were made of glass. Tony rarely closed the blinds unless he was working on top secret information. Thankfully, the blinds were up, giving Peter a perfect view into Tony's space. The billionaire was deep in the zone and AC/DC blared through the speakers, gently shaking the glass walls with the loud bass.

Peter took a step out of the elevator. And then another. And then a few more. And a couple more until he was standing in front of the labs entrance with his hand on the door. He hesitated. And then retreated.

He could stay with Ned tonight instead.

————-

He didn't stay with Ned instead.

When Peter had dropped off at Ned's apartment, it was almost four in the morning. He couldn't wake up his best friend and his best friend's parents and dog and younger sister just to stay at with him for a few hours. Like he had in Stark Tower, Peter put his hand gently on the buzzer, just touching, not pressing. And then he turned and shot a web before swinging into the early morning.

————

School was uneventful for Peter. It always was. Flash was thankfully sick, giving Peter a day of rest from his constant torments. There were no tests, projects, or quizzes, and the teachers only assigned minimal homework if at all.

All in all, it was an easy day.

Peter was in the middle of a fairly uneventful patrol when his phone vibrated. It was normally on ring in case of emergencies but that had caused problems in the past. Without checking the caller ID, Peter answered with a hushed "Hello?"

"Peter? Are you on patrol? Who am I kidding- of course you are. I'm sorry, kid. I'll call back later. I didn't mean to interrupt-"

"Mr. Stark! It's okay. Nothing's happening anyway. What did you want to talk about?"

Tony sighed through the phone. "That's a relief. Anyway, I just wanted to see why you were calling me just before one in the morning on a school night"

There it was. The perfect opportunity for Peter to say 'my aunt kicked me out of my apartment and now I have nowhere to go'. But Peter didn't take it.

He shook his head even though Tony couldn't see him. "It was nothing, Mr. Stark. I was just going to ask when our next mission was"

The excuse sounded lame, but it was the best he could come up with.

Tony gave a laugh, a deep, genuine laugh that came from deep in his stomach. "Patrol must be really slow if you're asking me. Now, you didn't hear it from me but the Avengers might be heading to Prague this weekend. I'd have to clear it with May and the team of course but I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem."

It wasn't hearing about his now estranged aunt that caused Peter's heart to clench in sadness. It was the excitement and pride in Tony's voice. Peter mumbled something about a robbery before quickly hanging up the call and crying.

————

The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to Peter. It had been a few days since he slept in a soft, warm bed. Between school, doing his homework at either Delmar's or Stark Tower, and all night patrols, Peter was beginning to crash.

So he shouldn't have been surprised he fell asleep during patrol.

It wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last. But this time was problematic because he was in the middle of a fight with Doc Ock, who promptly stabbed his side as Peter began snoring. The pain from his newly acquired injury caused Peter to awake with a jolt. Within a minute, the fight was finished and Peter was in route to nowhere. But then he fell asleep mid swing and ended up through a store window, conveniently knocking himself out cold if he wasn't before and tripping the alarm system.

So, yeah. This time was different because he woke up in jail.

Peter wanted to cry. There was a massive cut on his side and he didn't have money to bail himself out and he couldn't miss school. Not to mention Spider-Man's reputation which was probably down the drain and- his identity!

The teenager sat up with a start and began frantically patting his face. He almost cried when he realized his mask was still on top of his head and preserving his identity. To be honest, he didn't know what he would do if his identity was revealed.

But he had bigger problems to think about. Peter needed to call somebody to bail him out. Aunt May was out. Ned and MJ were out. He couldn't ask Mr. Delmar to do that. He couldn't think of anybody else.

Except...

"Excuse me. Sir!" Peter called out, hoping to find an officer to release him. "Or ma'am! I don't stereotype. Umm, can I have my phone call please?"

The jail was silent save for Peter's echo and the sound of a coffee pot. He waited a minute or two before shouting again. And then again. And then again.

It took almost fifteen minutes before a tall, gorgeous blonde officer walked into the room. With an unamused look on his face, he asked "Can I help you?" His tone was brusque and bored. Peter chose to ignore it.

"Yeah, hi. Can I have my phone call, please?"

The officer just stared at him. "First time in jail, Spider-boy?" He asked with a smirk.

Peter shook his head. "Spider-Man and yes but I need to get out of here please."

The guard- Officer Tallahandsem according to his badge- gave Spider-Man a once over before grabbing his phone out of his back pocket.

"You have three minutes" he warned before walking out of the room.

Peter nodded and shouted a quick 'thank you' to the guard before dialing a number. He placed the phone to his ear while it rang. And rang. And rang.

And then it hit voicemail. "You've reached the voicemail of Tony Stark. Don't leave a message at the beep unless you're important 'cuz I won't listen."

Beeeeeeeeeep

Peter stared down at the phone for a second and wiped away his tears before hitting the end call button. Officer Tallahandsem wasn't back yet so the injured teenager made another call. This time, the call picked up before the second ring.

"Spider-Man?" The familiar voice shouted through the phone.

"Hey. It's me" Peter hated how he sounded. So broken and tired.

Ned instantly began talking a mile a minute. "Are you okay? I saw the news and I figured you were in jail right now and- oh my god! Do you need me to bail you out? I don't have a lot of money but I might have enough-"

With a small smile on his face, Peter interrupted his best friend. "Thanks, Ned. You really are a good friend. If you could bail me out, that would be great. I'll send you my location"

His friend laughed. "Peter, I have a tracker on your suit. I know where you are."

The two teenagers laughed. It was Ned who spoke again. "Why didn't Mr. Stark bail you out?"

The smile on Peter's face disappeared. He was quiet for a second, lost in his own thoughts. "My times up. Thanks, Ned. I'll make it up to you"

Ned tried to protest on the other end, but Peter hit end call before he could say anything else.

—————

It took Ned fifteen minutes to arrive at Peter's location. After filling out some forms, Peter was free to go. He gave Ned a tight hug and whispered a sincere 'thank you' in his ear before taking off into the bright New York skyline.

Even though Ned was tracking his suit, Peter didn't care. He couldn't find it in himself to feel anything.

He was just empty.

——————

After the whole 'ending up in jail' fiasco, Peter decided he needed to sleep more often. Since he didn't have a bed to do that and he couldn't tell anybody else, he found a nice tree branch that wasn't super rough and was hidden from pedestrians looking up. It was the perfect hiding spot.

During his now almost daily lab time with Mr. Stark,

Peter made a blanket using a new web formula. It was thicker than his other webs and lasted more than ten times longer than before. The best part was, it would keep him warm during the colder nights.

Fall was fading into winter and Peter had no money or clothes to protect him. The nights were cold and Peter was only slightly warmer. His ribs were sticking out farther every day and the bags under his eyes were growing. He was over at Stark Tower as often as he could without drawing suspicion.

For once in his life, Peter was thankful Tony wasn't paying attention to him.

——————

It was only during the first snowfall of the year that Peter caved and called Tony. He was desperate and probably dying. Three months of living in a tree had really messed with Peter. And no matter how stupid and selfless and stupidly afraid he was, Peter picked up the phone anyway and called the only number he knew by heart.

"Please pick up please pick up please pick up" Peter silently chanted. The Starkphone continued to ring. "C'mon c'mon, Mr. Stark" He almost whined.

It stopped ringing. Peter's face lit up, waiting for Tony to start talking when-

"Hey, Peter. What's up?" Tony answered cheerfully despite the late hour.

Peter started to cry. "M- Mr. Stark"

Tony's joyous time quickly turned to concern as Peter sobbed through the phone. "Peter? What's wrong? Karen says- Jesus Christ, kid! You're freezing, malnourished, sleep deprived, crying, emotional distress. I'm on my way. Stay where you are and don't hang up"

The teenager nodded. He opened his mouth to say more but stopped as another wave of sons wracked through his body. He wasn't really paying attention to what Tony was saying, but he could hear him talking and it sounded reassuring and comforting so Peter let himself be reassured and comforted.

It took two minutes for the Iron Man suit to touch down in the park, only a few feet away from Peter's tree. The second the boots landed, Peter jumped out of the tree to envelop Tony in a tight hug. Tony cradled the kid to his chest for a second before letting go. Peter's face flushed red in embarrassment until he realized Tony was only stepping out of the suit to hold him closer.

"It's okay, Peter. I'm here now" Tony soothed his mentee, lightly stroking his hair and placing a soft kiss on the top of his head.

Peter just wanted to cry even more than he already was at the touch. He began to stammer out an explanation through his tears. Beginning three months ago with Aunt May kicking him out and ending with Tony hugging him in the park.

To say Tony was surprised was an understatement. To be fair, he was feeling a lot of emotions. Anger at Aunt May for kicking her nephew out onto the streets, sympathy for Peter and his conditions for the past three months, anger and disappointment in himself for not doing or noticing anything, surprise that Peter had been homeless for three months...

With a reassuring smile on his face, Tony said "I'm taking you back to the tower where you're going to take a nice hot shower and put on clean clothes while I make dinner and then we can watch a movie together. Okay?"

Peter nodded and wiped the tears from his face. Everything was gonna be okay. Tony stepped back into the Iron Man suit and instructed Peter to hold on tight. And just like that, they were off into the chilly night.

————-

It took some time for Peter to regain the weight he lost during his while 'living in a tree' thing, but Tony was patient and supportive. He cooked homemade meals, cleared at least two hours out of his schedule every day to spend time with Peter, helped with homework, gave him rides to school every day, and more.

Peter was happy for the first time in months.

The only problem was Aunt May was technically still his guardian.

There was no doubt that Tony had the best lawyers in New York City and possibly the world. So he used his legal team to gain custody over Peter. He was a little annoyed that he had to adopt Peter due to legal issues. It wasn't that Tony didn't want to adopt the teenager, but that he wanted to do it on his own time and on his own terms.

But it didn't matter because Tony knew in his heart he would've adopted Peter no matter the circumstances.

The adoption wasn't the only change he made though.

One of the first things Tony did after that night in the park was changing Peter's ringtone. Now, whenever Peter called Tony, both FRIDAY and Jarvis alerted Tony. And if neither AI was available, Tony's phone blared 'Back in Black' so loudly there was no chance he could miss it.

There were other fixes the two made together, most of them on the Spider-Man suit, such as alerting Tony to changes in health and special call buttons.

"Like speed dial!" Peter had shouted excitedly.

Tony had laughed. With a fond smile on his face, he had said with complete admiration in his voice "Just like speed dial"

Peter had been right though. When he said 'everything was going to be okay'. In the end, it was true. Everything was okay.