Angsting Our Boy Peter

Silent doesn't mean Worthless

WARNINGS: brief abusive behavior towards a minor

 Spider-Man never took his mask off.

He never stopped talking, either. He had a quip, a witty remark, a comeback ready for any situation. Despite his best efforts, the entire team knew that he was young. At the oldest, in his early twenties, but Tony placed him closer to fourteen or fifteen. Steve had been mad, furious, when Tony had informed the team of his suspicions, but Tony merely shrugged.

"There's not much I can do about it," he'd said. "He shows up when he shows up, stays until we're finished, and then leaves. I've tried tracking him, following him, having Friday run his voice and body structure. I can't find the guy. Nobody can."

The team had made peace with that, and despite the fact that he was painfully, obviously young, they were grateful for his help.

-{}-{}-{}-

Tony was heading to lunch with Pepper when he met him. Happy and slammed on the breaks, swearing colorfully. After reorienting himself, Tony playfully smacked him on the head.

"Come on, Hogan, what was that?" he'd said jokingly. "You couldn't give us a little warning first?"

"Not my fault a kid ran right in front of me!" Happy had snapped back, not at all amused.

Now curious, Tony unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned forward. Sure enough, there was a teenage boy with a mop of curly brown hair kneeling in the road beside the car, holding a cat. The boy looked a little shocked, especially when he made eye contact with Tony through the windshield.

Ignoring Pepper and Happy's outcries, Tony opened the door and left the car.

"Hey, kid," he'd said, casually putting his hands in his pockets and standing over the teenager. "What are you doing sitting in the road?"

In response, the boy had held up the cat.

"I see..." Tony said. "Well, why don't we get you out of the street, and see if we can find out who's cat that is? Unless it's yours, of course."

The boy snorted lightly, shaking his head, but pushed himself to his feet and followed Tony to the sidewalk.

Tony pulled out his phone and quickly texted Happy to drop Pepper off at the restaurant, promising he'd meet her there soon. Happy didn't look happy about it, but he continued down the road, leaving Tony standing on the sidewalk with the teenager.

"So..." Tony said, starting to walk down the sidewalk. The boy fell into step beside him, still clutching the cat. "You got a name, kid?"

The boy was silent for a moment, before he murmured, in barely a whisper, "Peter."

"Peter, huh? That's a nice name." Silence for another moment. "You don't talk much, do you, Peter?"

Peter shrugged, stroking the cat's head as it purred contently.

"Well, Peter, I think we'd better get that cat to a shelter," Tony suggested. "Somebody's probably looking for it, and even if they aren't, it'll be safer for it than the streets."

Peter made an affirmative noise in the back of his throat, so Tony headed down the street to the nearest animal shelter, and entered, Peter close behind.

"Excuse me?" he called, holding the door for Peter as he entered.

A woman appeared behind a counter, and did a double take.

"Oh, Mr. Stark, sir!" she stuttered. "How can I help you today?"

"Peter here nearly got himself run over by my driver, rescuing this cat," Tony explained. "We didn't find an owner, so we thought we'd drop it off here."