Long Days

Chapter 10: Part I

Chapter 10: Part I

In Chicago, Tony Stark had just finished up a conference with leaders of environmental non-profit organizations when he checked his phone. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the unopened texts.

:: Hey it's Peter. Got time to catch up sometime? ::

:: it's okay if you don't ::

Tony responded,

:: Sure. Tonight? ::

New York City was approximately twelve hours away by car, but if the kid needed him, he could fly and be there in less than two hours. For now, he would return to his hotel room, change into more casual clothes, and pack his bags. Even if Peter didn't want to talk tonight, his plane was already scheduled for tomorrow.

After an hour, there had been no response. The silence had planted a seed of anxiety in Tony.

After another hour passed, Tony was completely restless. He informed Happy, "Hey, take my bags tomorrow. I'm leaving now." And before his security guard could interrogate him for his reasoning, Tony had walked out. On the sidewalk, having tapped the center of his chest, nanomachines sprung to life and encased his body as they built his Iron Man suit on the spot. Ignoring the gawking stares from passerby, he pushed himself into the air and started on his way to Queens.

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Honestly, Tony didn't have an exact plan in mind, but his emotions landed him on Peter's street. It was evening now. His armor receded as he walked to the apartment building. Opening the never-locked main door, he remembered the last time he had walked into Peter's home unannounced when he had met the kid for the first time.

The mutant teen was strong and had unimaginable reaction times, but Tony had already known that from the videos of Spider-Man. What the videos didn't show was the kid's extreme brilliance. His intelligence rivalled Tony's own, but Peter put it towards chemistry and biology, towards building computers from trash and Lego models with his nerdy friends. Whether is was the true meaning of "sacrifice" or seeing the value in every individual's life, things that took a kidnapping and years of repairing past mistakes for Tony to learn, this kid seemed to have been born knowing it. However, after seeing all these things in his mentee, it was Peter's humility that was most inspiring to the billionaire.

Tony reached Peter's apartment door. He gave it a quick succession of light knocks then waited.

"Hel‒," May began when she opened the door, but stopped short when she recognized Tony's face. She couldn't understand why he would be here. And of all days, this was the worst possible timing. Her nose was too stuffy to breathe right, and she hadn't even washed off the tears dried on her face. "Tony Stark?"

The redness in May's eyes took Tony by surprise. It was obvious that she had been crying, but he didn't want to embarrass her so he didn't ask. He greeted her, "Hi, Mrs. Parker. Sorry to drop by rather unexpectedly, but I was hoping Peter might be here."

May stared at him. He wanted to see Peter? She was sure Peter had resigned from his internship at Stark Industries a couple months ago. The thought of his resignation brought a fresh wave of guilt over her. That was back when things really started to fall apart...

"Are you alright? Where's Peter?" Tony asked, full of concern. As soon as he had mentioned the kid, tears had welled up in her eyes and she stared as if she was looking through him at something on the wall behind him.

At the second mention of Peter, May could no longer remain composed. Tears began pouring down her face once again, and she brought her hands to her face, shaking uncontrollably. In the open doorway of that empty apartment, she sobbed.

Tony was completely unprepared for this. He was terrified by her reaction, and she still hadn't told him where Peter was. With no other idea in mind, he reached his hand out and gently squeezed the side of her shoulder. He spoke softly, "Hey, hey, hey, it's alright. It's okay. Maybe I should just go?"

"No, please..." May couldn't stop crying. She was breaking down in front of a near-stranger. Nevertheless, she didn't want to be alone. "...please stay."

Wondering if he would regret his decision but too concerned to abandon her, Tony agreed. "Okay, I can stay for a few minutes."

May stepped aside so that the visitor could enter the small apartment. When he fully walked in and May shut the door behind them, Tony could hardly recognize his surroundings. Last time, they had sat on a comfortable couch, watched the television, and shared home-baked treats while they waited for Peter to come home. Now, there wasn't even a couch, let alone a TV. Furthermore, certainly nothing was baking since the entire apartment was freezing. Tony turned back to look at his hostess once again. How had he not noticed that she was wearing a jacket over a pair of thick sweatpants and shoes although it didn't seem like she had left the apartment in hours? In fact, there was a good chance that it wasn't the tears that was making her shiver, but the cold.

"Is your heater broken? 'Cause, you know, I could fix that," Tony offered.

May shook her head as she took a seat on a stool at the kitchen island. It didn't matter who knew now anyway, right? After taking a minute to catch her breath, she confessed, "We couldn't afford that bill."

"And the furniture?"

"Sold it for food."

Tony's own hands began to tremble as his heart rate picked up. Shit. How long had these two been selling furniture for food? How long had they been forcing themselves to live without heat while it snowed outside? What other things have they been forced to do in order to save every possible dollar? How long had he, the founder of a multi-billion-dollar company, been sitting on a mass of wealth while these people starved because Peter was too humble to ask for help and Tony was too careless to notice? He should have probed the kid for answers when he had the chance. He should have checked up on him again instead of trusting that the kid would approach him for help. He should have done better. He should have been there. Shit. Shitshitshitsh‒

"You don't have to stand; there's an extra seat here," May notified him, interrupting his self-condemnation.

Needing to steady himself and having few other options, Tony sat across from Peter's aunt. She had stopped sobbing, but she continued to sniffle, wiping her eyes with her jacket sleeve. "You're cold," Tony observed.

May shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"That's no reason to stay cold." Tony stood and unzipped his own hoodie. "Here, use mine."

May shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine, really." Then she mumbled, "Mine is thicker anyway."

"Please," Tony insisted. "It's warmer, I promise."

The shivering woman sighed in defeat. She didn't have the energy to protest. Slipping off her coat, she pulled the thinner hoodie on. It was too large, of course, but he was right: it was warmer. In fact, it seemed to be heating itself up.

Responding to the confused look on her face, Tony said, "Yeah, it has an internal network of fibers for temperature regulation. It's an 'all weather' kind of thing. You know what, you can just keep it. I have another one..." He trailed off at the end and looked away, embarrassed by his own resources. Too anxious to sit back down, he remained standing at the end of the counter. Now that she seemed warmer and calmer, he ventured to ask once again, "Where's Peter?"