Here to Help

I'm so sorry I didn't notice

TWs: Mentions of past emotional/physical abuse from a parent, a small panic attack, PTSD symptoms, and while Peter doesn't have an eating disorder, his behavior/the descriptions may be triggering to some

✏️=Authors Notes. I'm putting notes about my writing process for each chapter in the comments! If you see that pencil in the comment, it means I'm giving basically a "behind the scenes" for that moment in the story :D

I slammed my fist against the table in frustration as the program failed again. I'd been trying to code DUM-E to fix one of my suits for the past few hours, but none of the codes I put it seemed to be doing what I wanted them to.

"Friday can you run a scan on this?"

"Sir, I've scanned this three times already."

"Yeah yeah, I know, I just can't figure out what's up with it. I've had DUM-E fix my suits before, but it just doesn't want to work today. Just try scanning it again."

"Alright. Scanning now," Friday said. I walked to the window while Friday did another scan, and stared down at the city below. I wasn't too far from the ground, my lab on the higher floor was being renovated, so I had to move down. It wasn't bad down here, I can see things better from this height. Cars didn't look like little lego pieces, they looked more like Hot Wheels.

I also liked watching the people, I hadn't realized how mesmerizing it was to just watch people walking and going about their day. I watched someone with a blue jacket walking down the sidewalk, and suddenly realized it was my intern, Peter Parker. I smiled, remembering how good he was with tech. Maybe he can figure out what's up with DUM-E , I thought.

But Peter didn't go into Stark Tower like I expected him to. He went down an alleyway on the side of Stark Tower, one that I knew for a fact lead to a dead end. What the hell is he doing?

I watched him until he was out of sight. Something wasn't right. That alleyway doesn't go anywhere. And he can't be changing into his suit for patrol, he had an internship meeting with me in about five minutes, I was going to help him update his suit. So what the hell was he walking into a dead-end alleyway for?

But now that I thought about it, I hadn't heard from Pete in about a week. He usually left me messages and called me all the time, updating me on everything from patrol. But he hadn't spoken with me once this week. I was so busy with meetings that I didn't notice.

A sick feeling formed in my stomach, guilt creeping into my chest. Clearly something was wrong. I had to find out what it was.

It didn't take me long to get down to the ground floor, and I rushed out the doors of the tower, becoming more and more worried with every second. I practically sprinted through the alleyway.

"No, no no no! They're gone! Oh god they're all gone, fuck, no, no no no..."

I froze, hearing Peter start to sob. My heart clenched at the sound of his voice cracking with misery. I rounded the corner.

There was Peter, hands running through his hair as tears fell down his face. He was staring at a shopping cart, which was empty except for a half-full water bottle and an open trash bag. Peter looked thin and tired, and he had small patches of dirt all over his face and clothes. His tears actually made visible tracks through the grime on his cheeks.

"Peter?" I said.

Peter snapped up, his eyes wide with fear. I wasn't used to people being afraid when they saw me, most of the time they looked happy to see someone coming along to help them.