Day Twenty-Three: "Don't look."

Peter wasn't looking forward to Tony's arrival. Even his Aunt May told him that he shouldn't go see for himself. Just see it on the TV. Stay away from it because he was too close to the building. It was practically...No, not practically. It was his second home. He stayed over every other weekend, spent probably just as many hours there as he did in school, and there were many memories there.

But that was the thing. Because it was his second home he had to go see. It felt like he was honouring it one last time. One last time until it was rebuilt. If it'd get rebuilt. That thought made his heart throb. It was hard to hold back tears.

He stood outside an enormous group of bystanders that included news reporters, people who worked at the Tower, and the regular old Joe. The sound of the news helicopter made his ears ring. He wished these annoying news people would go away. It seemed like they were treating the Tower with disrespect with the way they talked about it.

"Famous Stark Tower collapses!" Was a headline on the TV before Peter went out.

Being at the actual scene, he could hear what the reporters were saying. They were saying that because Tony Stark was an amazing inventor and genius, the building shouldn't have collapsed at all. There shouldn't have been any excuses. No explosions should be able to bring it down. It should've been indestructible.

All in all, they blamed everything on Tony Stark. Surprise, surprise. Everyone blamed Tony Stark for everything, even when he wasn't around. The man was on a business trip and Peter didn't doubt that he was called immediately the moment an explosion occurred in his Tower. He was on his way back Peter knew and he was going to be by his side the whole time.

He wasn't looking forward to seeing Tony's reaction. He wanted all these people to be gone by the time Tony came back. He doubted that was going to happen. It had only been a couple hours since the explosion happened and the amazing Stark Tower collapsed. The news vultures were probably going to try and catch Tony's reaction.

Just because Tony's buildings had been wrecked before didn't mean he was going to be okay with this. Besides, whenever the Tower was damaged it was always repairable. This was the one time it wasn't. It was completely wrecked beyond repair. It was going to have to be rebuilt and it would take a long, long time.

The longer Peter stood there the harder it was to hold back his emotions. He loved the Tower so much. He knew Tony loved the Tower. No one, with the exception of the people who were there from the start, would ever be able to understand just how important and special the Tower was.

Peter took a deep breath and started pushing his way through the crowd. He wanted to be a little prepared for when Tony arrived. If he was going to be an emotional wreck, he wanted to be like that before Tony was there. When he got to the front of the crowd and in explicit view of the Tower debris, he froze.

It wasn't just the outer and interior debris that got to Peter. It was the crushed and destroyed machinery in the mix of it. He noticed glints of red and gold in the debris. Old Iron Man suits. Hard work upon hard work of creating and inventing was lost in the explosion. New projects. Older projects. Peter didn't even want to know how this affected FRIDAY.

"No comment!"

Peter whipped around at Tony's angry voice. His mentor (and so much more) pushed everyone out of the way. Peter didn't let him reach the front before he collided into him, wrapping his arms tightly around his body. Tony must not have noticed him because he didn't hug him back. If anything, he tried to move forward but Peter didn't let him.

"Wait, Mister Stark," Peter mumbled into his shoulder. He held him tighter. "Don't look."

Not yet at least.

Finally, Tony stopped trying to move forward and finally returned Peter's embrace. His heartbeat was so hard and fast.

"Mister Stark, how do you feel-"

"I said no comment!" Tony shouted above all the questions. He gave Peter a light squeeze and pulled back. He looked down at him and sighed. "I can do it. I've seen wreckage before."

He had seen wreckage before. But again, those times it was repairable. This wasn't. Peter had no right to hold him back anymore so he nodded. Tony kept a hand on Peter's shoulder and they went closer. Peter couldn't bring himself to look at Tony's eyes as they made their way.

"Sir, you shouldn't go in-" A police officer stepped in front of them and held up a hand.

"Officer, this is my Tower," Tony scoffed. "Let me through."

The officer looked skeptical but hesitantly nodded. He stepped aside and Peter didn't fail to notice the dismal expression.

Tony's steps slowed as he moved through the debris carefully, his eyes scanning all over the wreckage. Peter found it hard to look at it all. His heartbeat picked up just as much as Tony's did. Actually being inside the wreckage made it feel that much more real that the Tower was gone. The crunching and snapping of what was once the Tower interior made Peter's ears ache.

Peter felt like he now understood how people felt when their homes were caught up and destroyed in a hurricane or a tsunami or in this case an explosion. Walking through this was just as dreary as walking through a graveyard.

Tony stopped and stared at a pile of burnt wood. Under it was an Iron Man suit. Tony moved his foot under the wood and kicked it off the old suit. Peter took a step back and looked away, giving Tony a moment to look at one of his creations. Peter heard Tony's quiet sigh. He probably wasn't supposed to hear it.

Tony started walking again looking all over. Peter followed him closely. He still couldn't bring himself to look up and see Tony's eyes. It was never easy to see a loved one in pain. It was especially hard when said loved one was usually good at keeping his emotions at bay. At hiding them.

Peter felt tears prick in his eyes as they continued the gloomy tour. This was his second home. This was Tony's home. He didn't know if he could stay much longer but he'd be there for Tony every step of the way. Part of him wished Pepper was here. She'd be able to handle this better than him. Perhaps.

Tony stopped abruptly, causing Peter to almost trip over his own feet. Tony's hand slipped off of his shoulder. Peter finally looked up and bit his lip.

Tony's eyes were downcast, staring intently at something. But it wasn't that. His eyes were glazed over yet Peter swore he saw them get misty. Tony cleared his throat and kneeled. Peter stepped back and watched as Tony started to pull wood and shards of glass out of the way along with some steel pieces.

Peter looked down to see what it was that Tony was trying to find. He felt confusion wash over him as Tony pulled out something that looked like more crushed metal onto his lap. Tony stroked it gently and Peter squinted his eyes to see something that looked like initials-

Peter's heart skipped a beat again.

DUM-E.

Peter knew how important DUM-E was to Tony. From what he was told, DUM-E saved Tony a long time ago somehow. He was also one of Tony's first robots. Peter had also grown fond of the robot.

That was the breaking point for Peter. He didn't bother stopping the tears that slipped past his eyes. This seemed to be Tony's breaking point as well. Peter could tell Tony was doing his best to hold back because 'Stark men are made of iron' but the fact was, Tony Stark was a human being. Human beings cried.

The tears were silent as they finally left Tony's eyes. Peter held onto Tony's shoulders and hid his face in his shoulder to muffle his already quiet sobs. Tony didn't move, he let Peter hold him. He actually leaned into his touch.

"I'm sorry, Tony…" Peter mumbled.

Tony didn't respond.

Home was taken away from him. A lot was taken from him.

It was going to take a long time for things to get rebuilt. Even when they did get rebuilt, it wasn't going to be the same.

"I'm sorry, too."

Author's Note: Okay, so I think Tony's lost DUM-E before so ya'll might be thinking: "What's the big deal?" Welp. That was forever ago and I needed there to be something personal in the wreckage to get Tony to break a little, same with Peter. DUM-E was just the final straw after seeing the Tower completely destroyed.

Oh and remember what I said about Fisk showing up again? Back in the day where there was Bio!Dad Tony? Well, let's just say Fisk is gonna show up real soon. Real soon.

That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

~Kurosaki