Tin Can boy || Peter Parker

six

It had been two days since Tate had been kidnapped (officially forty nine hours) and Peter was tired. He hadn't been sleeping very much, dropping into catnaps on the tables or curling up on the couch in the stark family apartment but nothing more than a few hours at a time. He had been staying at the apartment ever since Tate had first gone missing. May had brought him clothes and banded together with Pepper to make sure that both him and Tony ate. "You're not going to be of any help to Tate burnt out and weak", Pepper reminded him as she set down a bowl of soup on the table in front of him. The soup smelt great but Peter's was too distracted by the holoscreen hovering in front of him. On the other side of the lab, Tony was on the phone to a few connections, voice tight with frustration. 

Pepper glanced over at him and sighed. She had been on the phone with her own connections all day yesterday and they had promised to notify her as soon as any of them heard anything. They had hit a dead end. The license plates Peter had gotten were from stolen cars. When they tracked the vans down, it was to find them destroyed. The men they had taken captive knew nothing. They were hired thugs who were promised half a million to each of them in return for Tate alive. Money tracing had hit a wall and the dart Peter had picked up was covered in a tranquilliser commonly used by hunters but there had been nothing else useful. Pepper had been trying to track the money while Tony scanned camera footage of the city. Whoever had taken Tate had covered their tracks well. There had been no sign of him. 

"How did they know where he would be?" Peter muttered as he began finally eating his soup. It was chicken and vegetable. Easy to eat and easy to keep down. 

"I don't know", Tony sighed as he ended the call. He took a seat at the table and Pepper nudged the second bowl towards him. "I checked Tate's phone but there was nothing. The kid is disasterly good at technology and makes it a habit of upgrading his firewalls every week. I had trouble getting into the thing". It had taken Tony all night before he had managed to hack it, even with his familiarity of Tate's style. 

Peter stirred his soup with his spoon. The lab was cool and normally would be cluttered with Tony's various projects but they had been pushed to the side. "Have we checked Callum's phone?" He asked as his mind began turning. The warm food settling him slightly. "Any of the boys' phones? They were all due to meet at the cinema, so what if the bad guys hack theirs?"

Pepper nodded slowly. "Tate does spend the majority of his time with at least one of them and they have very active group chats". 

"Of course!" Tony slammed his hand down on the table, causing the soup to slosh worryingly in the bowl. "Peter, call them all here for me and we will go through their phones". Peter was already tugging his own phone from his pocket before he had finished talking. 

It took just under an hour for them all to arrive. (Nevermind that they all technically should have been in school as it was Monday, but they had all skipped). Callum got there first, Charley along with him. Both had very obviously rushed, scruffy clothes and messy hair, but handed their phones over easily. Charley gaped round at the lab with an expression of awe and slight hesitation. Peter caught him poking a holoscreen with narrowed eyes. Tony got to work on scanning their phones while they waited for Jason and Abe to arrive, which they did fifteen minutes later. Jason was in workout gear and slightly sweaty. He burst into the lab with his usual energy and took a second to catch his breath. 

"Did you run here?" Callum asked from where he had taken up position on the small sofa that was half pushed into the corner and out of the way of the steel tables. He was on Charley's lap as the brown haired boy braided his hair, it was long enough to brush the darker haired boy's collar bones now. 

"Yeah. I was at the gym", Jason huffed as he straightened. He gave Peter a wave and slumped over to the table to pass his phone. "Hey Peter. You okay?" His eyes were concerned and he patted Peter on the shoulder. 

Peter sighed but nodded. "Yeah. Stark internship paying off", he joked without humour. "Mr Stark doesn't trust many others with stuff about Tate. At least I can do something". He ran a hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh and set about programming FRIDAY to scan Jason's phone. The lab room was large enough that their conversation hadn't reached Tony at the over end. The man was bent over a table, staring at a holoscreen replaying the cctv footage of the kidnapping as he thought. Peter wondered what was going through the man's head. 

Jason let out a similar frustrated sigh. "Yeah. I feel stir crazy. I couldn't do anything when those guys stormed the place. It was all so sudden and they had weapons". 

"You can't blame yourself", Peter looked up at the other boy. "They outnumbered you and you would have only gotten yourself hurt. Tate wouldn't like that". 

"I know. It's what MJ tells me. But I know a bit of boxing, self defence I learnt for situations like this". Jason swung his hands out in a frustrated motion as he scowled. 

Peter lowered his voice so that the boys on the sofa wouldn't hear. "Does Callum? Charley? Abe?" 

Jason frowned. "I think Charley knows a bit of Karate, did it as a kid. Callum can throw a punch but that's it. Abe", he snorted softly. "He trips over his own shoe laces more often than not. He tries though". 

"Exactly", Peter stated. "I've seen Tate fight. He knows kickboxing and I'm pretty sure Tony had black widow teach him a few moves too. Out of all you there, he was the only one trained to deal with the situation. He would have wanted you to keep an eye on the others so that no one else got hurt, right? Imagine how he would feel if others were hurt for him". 

Jason inhaled shakily. "You're right. Thanks Pete". 

Peter nodded, feeling worn but sparing the other boy a small smile. "Do you want to call MJ?" 

"Na. She's at school. She doesn't know yet", Jason shook his head, then winced. "She and Ned both suspect something though. The chat has been blowing up all morning". Peter glanced down at his own phone which had been left on silent. When he tapped the screen the lock screen showed dozens of messages from the two. He grimaced and shared a look with Jason. "Yeah. We decided not to mention anything yet, just in case", the taller boy added. "She's going to be angry at me for hiding this but I don't want to overwhelm Mr Stark". 

"Good call", Peter nodded, then sighed at having to explain everything to Ned. That was when Abe stumbled through the doors. His shirt had coffee dripping from it and his shoes were untied and he almost tripped as he stepped towards them. Jason caught the smaller boy by the shoulder. 

"Am I late? I had to get a cab", he asked. "Oh! Phone! Here". He pulled it from a pocket and handed it over. 

Peter took it and checked on the progress of Jason's as the two boys joined the others on the sofa. Something beeped and his eyes widened. "Mr Stark!" He yelped, jumping to his feet as he enlarged the screen. Tony jerked at the shout but turned and was jogging across the room before he could say more. He banged into the table as he rounded the corner but continued, hovering over Peter's shoulder as he stared at the screen. 

"Hey Kid, what is it?" 

"Here", Peter gestured to the data scanned from Jason's phone. "I didn't notice it on Callum's or Charley's phones, but they had a different model. Jason's is only a stark four. They don't have as much safety at the newer models. Here, this patch here. That shouldn't be there". He pointed at a line of coding. Tony's eyes swept over it, then widened. 

"You're right. Great Job. Okay, let me just-" He grabbed the screen and pulled it towards a second one, beginning to type rapidly. Peter took a step back and let out a long breath. He turned and smiled encouragingly at the other boys watching. They all sent him synchronised thumbs up. Peter chuckled slightly in hope and sent them one back. 

Hopefully, this was the break they had been looking for. The clue that will lead them to the kidnappers and Tate. 

unedited

I love writing their friendship group's dynamics. They have such a great bond.