Peter Parker... Stark?

Where's Peter?

"Dude, where have you been?"

Peter turned around and met Ned's enthusiasm with a small smile.

"Broke my arm real bad, had to take a week off school to let it heal," he said quietly enough that no one else could hear. Ned's face grew more somber.

"You haven't gotten hurt like that in a while. What happened?"

"The Avengers," Peter said with a shrug, turning back to his locker to shove another textbook in his bag. He wanted to get away from this topic, but had also resigned himself to his fate. Ned would not let this drop until he ran out of questions and concerns.

"Dude! The Avengers?" Ned hissed, his eyes wide with excitement. "That is so cool!"

"Yeah, until they threaten you and put you in bed rest for a week," Peter said matter-of-factly.

Ned's face dropped. "Wait, did they attack you?"

Peter frowned, confused. "Uhh, yeah... What did you think I meant?"

"I thought that maybe you had a super epic team up and then got hurt fighting some super big bad guy, like Hydra or something, I dunno!" Ned rambled, looking as embarrassed as he probably felt.

"Apparently Nick Fury isn't so happy about the whole secret identity thing," Peter grumbled, shutting his locker a little harder than he intended.

"Wait, Nick Fury doesn't know who you are?" Ned asked. "I know something that Nick Fury doesn't!"

Peter couldn't help but chuckle. "Congrats, Ned," he said, "now let's just do our best to keep it that way."

"What does that mean?"

Peter sighed. "It means I'm not doing that anymore. Spider-Man is over, Ned. I can't keep coming back to the orphanage with unexplainable injuries. I haven't been to my internship for that reason."

"So you're quitting?" Ned asked.

"Let's just call it a forced retirement."

"What are you retiring from?" MJ asked from behind the two boys, who both jumped.

"My, uh," Peter stammered, "my internship!"

"The one with Tony Stark?" she asked, unimpressed. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Yeah?"

"Peter, that's not the sort of commitment you should 'retire' from," she said flatly.

"Well, I--" Peter started, but he was saved by the bell. "I should really get to Chem," he said nervously. "Bye guys!"

~~~

"Where's Peter?" Pepper asked as she peeked into Tony's lab. The billionaire frowned.

"Honestly Pepper, I have no idea. The kid just stopped coming about a week ago. He won't answer my texts," he said, clearly upset.

"Have you tried talking to him face to face?" Pepper asked.

"... No."

"So you're telling me that when the boy who collapsed from starvation just a few weeks ago stops responding, you didn't think to go check on him?"

Tony grimaced. "I'll be back," he said, running past Pepper. She frowned as she thought about the kid that had somehow broken through Tony's barriers.

She just hoped he was okay.

~~~

Tony had never felt more stupid. Pepper was right--when Peter started acting so out of character, the first thing he should have done was go check up on him.