call me spiderman

“Boy I can’t remember the last time I petted a cat.” He tapped his chin, not being able to hold back the fond smile as Peter reported his activities. It was refreshing to see him excited for little things while keeping himself sharp for bigger happenings.

Anthony patted his shoulder and gestured for him to follow inside.

“Are you hungry after your busy day? Also- I might have to tell everyone that Stark Industries is under Spiderman’s wing so no one else dares to try and get inside but then again…criminals in the city are a little dumb sometimes.”

“Oh Mr. Stark, petting a cat is amazing! And so is petting a dog! We could go to an animal shelter and you could pet some, maybe even adopt one. I should ask Aunt May if she would let me adopt one, maybe a cat cause the space in the apartment.” He frowned a little, wondering it May would be okay with a pet. 

“Oh, yes I am.” He smiled, following Mr. Stark, eager to get some of the delicious food that he could get at the Stark tower. “Oh...” He blushed lightly as he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. He was happy that Mr. Stark was proud of his work and that he thought of him as a good protector, specially knowing that Stark Industries had the best of the best in security. “Well, I’m always happy to help out!”

The tone on Peter’s voice and more specifically, the words he used, felt like a rock inside Anthony’s shoe. Tiny and yet, irritating.

If the kid had been someone else, Stark would have snapped at such offhand response.

Note: Cut down the talk about the dark knight around Peter.

He moved on on the casual chat tho, fixing the cuffs of his shirt as he spoke.

“Anyway, I guess you’re here to give your report of the day, Spiderman? I saw something good on the news.”

“Hmm? Oh yes, my report!” Peter said excitedly, knowing he was secure around Mr. Stark he took off his mask and smiled brightly. “So there was this little girl who had her cat stuck in a tree and I’ve always wanted to rescue a cat in a tree! She was super happy when I got him down, his name was Mittens and he was orange with white and black.” Peter squished his own cheeks. “He was so cuuuute!” He said and then cleared his throat, knowing there were, perhaps, more important things to report. “I also caught some guys who were trying to break into one of Stark Industries buildings, brought them to the first police car I saw and stuck them there, it was pretty funny.”

caring starters

“My face is fine, really.” Mr. Stark, however, isn’t giving him this worried kind of look at makes him really want to take the mask off and at the same time keep it on even more. “I’m just really glad that you are okay.” He hesitates but removes the mask, a nasty bruise already appearing on part of his cheek, his busted lower lip bleeding lightly. “This is just part of my line of work, sir.”