A/N: As you can see, I'm not dead. *enters in dramatic Black Panther fashion*. I'm sorry I wasn't able update, I had online tests the whole week. But I will be on a updating spree this week to make up for it. This is a long chapter. Enjoy!

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It has been six months since the so-called Civil War. Tony has grown to love Peter, although he would never admit it. Pepper and Rhodey dubbed Peter as Mini-Tony because of the similarity between them, pull all-nighters: check, neglect their health: check, ready to help others even though they need help themselves: double-check.

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Tony was sitting in his lab working on the latest Stark Phone when FRIDAY is notified by KAREN. "Put me through FRI. Hey Pete, KAREN notified me, you okay?" Tony asks.

"Shit. Hey , how are you?" Peter says trying to cover up the fact that he was stabbed AND shot.

"Nah-uh, I asked first. Answer me"

"Well I was patrolling when I KAREN told me there was a mugging on a block across, so I swung by webbed the guy up, and helped the girl to safety. Unfortunately, there was one more guy and he stabbed me from my back, while I was trying to hold the blood, which didn't work, the other guy who was in front of me shot me in my arm and I didn't want KAREN to contact you but she did anyway and I'm sorry if I disturbed you" Peter finishes his rambling, which was quite casual contrasting to the fact that he was shot and stabbed.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa. Did you just say you were stabbed-" "and shot" "Where are you kid? You need medical assistance, I'm picking you up," remarks Tony while motioning for his suit.

"Actually Mr. Stark, I'm on your roof," Peter tells.

"What?"

"I'm on your roof, Mr. Stark, I was swinging home when KAREN contacted you, so I decided to stay here on the roof" Peter explains.

"Okay, so I'm currently coming up to the roof. Do not move." Tony states leaving no room for argument.

"But Mr. Star-" "No buts, you're coming to the MedBay, get treated and I'll call Aunt Hottie and inform her you're staying the night here" Tony finishes just as he enters the roof to see Peter almost laying down from the pain.

Tony crouches down and helps Peter get up and they walk to the elevator. They go down to the MedBay and Tony lays Peter down on the bed that was made ready just before they came into the room. A Doctor and a couple of nurses come in and ask Tony to leave, but the grip on Peter's hand which Tony didn't even know he had, tightened.

"Please stay" requests Peter as the nurse makes Tony leave. "I'll stay Peter" declares Tony before swatting away the nurse who asked him to leave.

Tony watches as the doctor stitches Peter's abdomen after cleaning then assessing the shot wound. They then leave after finishing treating Peter.

"Mr. Stark, are they done?" Peter questions.

"Yeah bud, do you want to go up the living room and watch movies?" Tony suggests. "Yeah, I don't like the smell of this room," Peter tells. "Can we watch Star Wars?" Peter asks, for good measure he also adds puppy eyes.

"Oh come on. Are the puppy eyes really necessary?" Tony says with a groan.

"Of course Mr. Stark, I've been told my puppy eyes are my greatest asset" Peter remarks with a goofy grin.

Tony gently helps Peter stand up and they walk to the elevator and head up to the living room.

Tony drops Peter on the couch and heads to the kitchen. "FRI play the Star Wars movie Peter wants," Tony speaks to FRIDAY as he grabs a mug from the cabinets.

When Tony comes back with hot chocolate, he sees the movie starting and hands the mug to Peter and sits down himself. He wraps his hand around Peter and Tony reaches for the blanket next to his seat and proceeds to cover him and Peter around it. He starts combing his hand through Peter's hair.

Tony swore that he heard Peter mumbling the lines from the movie but ignores it. Halfway into the movie, Tony hears soft snoring and turns to see Peter fast asleep. He smiles at the sight and watches the rest of the movie even though he has slept only three hours yesterday. Tony's eyes droop and he slowly let the sleep consume him.

When Pepper woke up at three in the morning and went to the lab to drag Tony's butt back to bed, she was surprised to not find him there. "FRIDAY, where's Tony?" Pepper questioned tiredly.

"Boss seems to be in the living room, Ms. Potts" FRIDAY answered quietly with a hint of amusement to her voice.

Pepper marched to the living room and started to yell at Tony for not coming to bed at a reasonable hour, but stopped when she noticed Peter and Tony cuddled on the couch, sleeping.

Pepper immediately became soft and walked over to kiss the boys on their forehead then asked FRIDAY to take a picture, to which the AI responded with an affirmative.

"FRIDAY send this to Ms. May Parker please" Pepper requested as she went to her bedroom and fell asleep.

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"Hello this is Midtown School Of Science Technology, this is the receptionist speaking. Are you the emergency contact of Peter Parker?"

When FRIDAY interrupted and told him that there was an incoming call from Peter's school, Tony immediately thought of the worst.

"Yes, I am the contact for Peter. What happened?"

" seemed to have gotten into a fight with a student during lunch and broke the student's nose. We want you to pick him up and discuss his punishment."

"Alright Miss, I'll be there in twenty minutes" Tony hung up and went to the garage. Although he couldn't understand why would Peter hit someone, he is usually so careful about him super strength.

He picked the most inconspicuous Audi and started to drive. "FRI isn't it odd that Peter got into a fight but he would never more than web up a robber as Spider-Man?"

"Boss, I have hacked the school's surveillance camera for anything odd and found this,"

Tony turned on AutoDrive and started to watch the hologram of the school's camera FRIDAY just pulled up.

Peter puts his books back in his locker when some guy comes and starts talking to him. Peter's expression is one of anger, sadness, and helplessness. Peter talks back and he earns a punch to the jaw. The guy walks away.

Peter was walking from school when the guy from the previous video and some other guy started to beat him up, quite brutally. A kick in the gut while another held him up.

A similar video plays. "FRI how long has this been going on?" Tony asks full of rage.

"Mr. Parker has been bullied since his freshman year by a Eugene Thompson"

"And why has no action has been taken against this? It is recorded in the school camera" Tony questioned.

"It seems that Eugene Thompson's parents are members of the school Board and pay a lot of things for the school" FRIDAY explains with a clear fury in her voice if that was possible.

"I'm going to make this Thompson guy beg for his life," Tony says as he exits the car and enters the school building. He quickly finds his way to the principal's office and sees Peter sitting on a chair with a look of annoyance, exhaustion, and guiltiness. Not to mention he has a bruise near his jaw and what seems to be a slightly twisted wrist.

"Mr. Stark, what are you doing here?" the principal asks full of shock.

"I'm here to assess the situation Peter has gotten into and also pick him up" Tony explains with his press grin which quickly turns into a genuine one as he looks at Peter. He sits down in the chair next to Peter. For the first time, he notices an annoyed-looking man and a boy who is holding an ice pack to his face with a scowl. He's guessing that's the guy who's been bullying Peter.

"We may start with what we know," The principal starts talking "We have evidence here that Mr. Parker had initiated a fight with Mr. Thompson during lunch and Eugene had hit Peter back as self-defense" The principal finishes.

"Whose side of the story is this?" Tony inquires.

"This is from the students who brought Eugene to the nurse" The principal explains.

"So, Eugene's friends brought him to the nurse. Are you sure that they are holding back something?" Tony asks the principal with his eyebrow raised. Peter's expression changes from annoyed to horrified to beaming smugly, he knows that Flash is in for one heck of a ride.

"Because I have evidence that Peter was the one being bullied since his freshman year. Pull it up FRI" Tony continues and puts down his glasses to show them the hologram. The videos play and the principal is nervous, Flash's father is enraged and Flash's trying to run away from the situation.

The one from today's lunch plays.

Flash comes to the table where Peter and Ned are sitting with MJ sitting a little away from them but still on the same table. He talks to Peter when he receives no reaction he punches his shoulder than starts talking about MJ. Peter gets up and punches Flash in the nose. Flash hits Peter back and twists his wrist. Flash's goons drag Flash to the nurse's room.

The final video finishes.

Tony looks at the principal. "Well, it seems that with the evidence for bullying, Mr. Thompson will be suspended for three weeks. Mr. Parker will be suspended for a week. No more arguments. Thank you for coming." The principal quickly says leaving no room for argument.

Tony was about to reply but just mumbled a thank you and dragged Peter out. He opens the door and starts driving once Peter was buckled in. The drive to the ice cream place was quiet. Tony starts talking.

"Look I'm not mad that you hit that Flash guy. It's good that you're sticking up for your friends. But sometimes you need to stick up for yourself. Understand?"

Peter nods and answers with a smile. "'kay, can I get Stark Raving Hazelnuts?"

"Now we're talking! Anything for you bud." Tony replies.

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May had invited Tony to dinner after she had found out about Peter being Spider-Man. She wanted to talk to Tony about a few rules about patrolling, injuries, etc. Tony came a couple of minutes early and helped Peter set up the table. The conversations were easy-going and light-hearted. After dinner, May asked Peter to put on a movie as she wanted to talk to Tony. May dragged Tony out to her room's tiny balcony.

"Listen, Tony, I can see that you care about Peter a lot and I wanted to ask you a favor."

"Anything May" Tony genuinely replied.

"I have liver cancer, Tony, and-" May was cut off by Tony.

"It's alright May, I'll call my doctors you can start getting treatment immediately. Money is not a problem, I'll pay for everything" Tony rambles.

"Tony, it's in it's advance stages. We can't do anything" May says with a sad smile.

"But you can't leave Peter. You're all he has" Tony argued.

"No, he has you. I want you to be his guardian, in case I pass away. I have already mentioned it in my will, I don't want him to live in the system." May explains with tears threatening to fall.

"Alright May. But you don't want him to know?" Tony questioned.

"I don't want him to suffer. He already has too much on his plate for a fifteen-year-old, I don't want him to worry" May replies.

"Alright May, I'll be the best father figure-slash-mentor, I can be," Tony says with a grin and a few tears. Tony wanted to be Peter's father figure ever since he met him, but he didn't want it to be at the price of Peter's losing his last living relative.

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"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good" Peter voice breaks as he says.

"You're alright" Tony reassures him which fails.

"I don't wanna go. Please, I don't wanna go" He turns into dust. "I'm sorry"

Tony failed. He failed to keep the one thing he promised himself and May to keep safe. He lost him.