Tony Stark Has A Heart

Iron Man to the Rescue

Darkness.

That's all Peter could see. Well, not see.

Somehow, the older boys had tricked him again. He thought he was smarter than them. But sometimes, he was reminded just how dumb and weak he really was.

The oldest boy, Finn, had convinced him to play hide and seek with them. At first, Peter had been wary, but they played several rounds of the game without any incident. Halfway through their fourth game though, they must've gotten bored. When Peter had opened the closet to hide, one of the boys must have snuck up behind him and locked it. There was no lock or knob on the inside of the closet. So now he was stuck here until someone came to grab something from the closet.

He couldn't even cry. That would just make them do it again. Once he had realized he was stuck, he'd sat on the floor and began counting. It didn't last very long, though; he could only count to twelve. For the life of him, he couldn't remember what came next.

Muffled voices came through the door, and he perked up slightly. That must mean someone was coming for him, right?

He couldn't hear exactly who was talking, but he didn't care. He needed to be let out of here immediately. If he didn't get to a potty soon, he would pee all over himself.And that would make the older boys go nuts.

"In here?" A familiar female voice asked. And before Peter could move to bang his fists against the closet door, it was opened. The light was blinding, and he immediately went up to cover his eyes. Why was it so bright?

When his eyes finally adjusted to the light and he was able to move his arms down, he realized there was a tense silence in the hallway. He looked up, Mrs. Turner looked pale, at her side Finn was looking sheepishly around. He had never seen either of them look like that, there had to be a reason, right? Oh.

Then he noticed they weren't alone in the little hallway. The man from the waiting room the other day, Iron Man, and another man were standing there. Both looked like they were upset. They must be upset with me, he realized. What other reason was there? He was the one who had been locked in the closet. Maybe they thought he should've stayed in the closet?

Iron Man kneeled to the floor, his face changing almost instantly. It reminded him of the way Finn or Mrs. Turner would look when they were about to do something mean, like send him to bed with no dinner or lock him in a closet.

"Hey, Peter. You remember me from the hospital the other day?"

Of course, he did. How could he forget? He had met Iron Man! He had told all the other kids and gotyelled at for lying. Bet they felt silly now, huh?

He nodded slowly, looking to Mrs. Turner for guidance. She wouldn't meet his eyes, so he turned back to Iron Man.

"You left this back there and I thought I'd return it." He reached into his coat as he said this, pulling out an action figure. Peter immediately knew this wasn't his. He didn't own any action figures; he didn't own any toys. All the toys his aunt and uncle bought for him were either destroyed or stolen by the other kids. If he owned this, it would be no exception.

But he did want the toy, and the man was offering it to him...

He hesitantly took it, looking up to the man for guidance. Did he want him to play with it? Did he want him to do something in return?

"This is my friend Bruce." He gestured over to the other man he had come in with. Peter didn't recognize him, he hadn't been at the hospital the other day. But he nodded anyway, to show that he was listening.

"If you're not too busy, he'd like to have a few words with you in private." Iron Man continued.

That was kind of exciting for Peter. He knew what 'in private' meant. It meant serious grown-up talk. He got to be a part of serious grown-up talk! That was so cool! But first...