Is Love Enough?

Chapter 8

A little boy stood in front of his parents, begging them to stay.

"Mama, Papa, please! I don't want you to leave!" the boy cried, gripping onto their legs with all the strength he could muster.

The mother bent down and held her son, "Peter, darling, this is the last trip I promise," she reassured him, wiping away his tears.

His father bent down to ruffle his son's hair, "That's right monkey, we'll be back before you know it!"

Peter whimpered, "But you said that last time! Did I do something wrong? I promise I'll be better, don't leave me please!"

"Oh, buddy," his dad whispered while embracing his son, "your mom and I love you more than anything."

His mom started rubbing her son's back in small circles, "This is the last trip, we promise. After this, we can go to that Stark Expo you've been talking about."

Peter looked to his mom, his tears slowing, "Really..?"

With one last squeeze his parent's stood up, ruffling their son's hair, "Course, monkey"

.....

"They aren't coming back," a voice whispered.

Mom, dad...

"Don't leave me."

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Tony stood in his kitchen, staring at the the elevator that just closed. He couldn't stop thinking about Peter, why did he shout at him like that? And that look, that broken, hollow look. Why would Tony ever hurt Peter like that?

He walked over to his couch, his mind feeling heavy from the events that passed. Tony sat on the edge of his seat, his head in his hands. Peter was right, they only went on one date; they weren't anything exclusive. So what was Tony feeling right now? Tony rubbed his face and was about to head to his lab, mess with some projects and ignore all of these feelings when the elevator dinged a blonde super soldier marching through it.

"Look, Cap, I get it. Peter's done with me, hooray for you," Tony said with an eye roll.

Steve huffed, "Apparently you don't get it, Stark. Peter, for whatever reason, still wants you."

Tony stood up and crossed his arms, "And I thought you didn't care if Peter wanted to be with me or not?" he said with a raised brow.

Steve walked closer and leaned on the back of the couch, "I care because unless you fix this, I lose my chance with Peter."

Tony turned his head, "Don't see how that's my problem."

Steve shook his head and sighed, turning his back on Tony and leaned his back on the couch, "God, Tones, why can't you see how much people, how much Peter cares about you?"

Tony looked over to Steve slightly, "Trust me, after today I don't think he'll ever want to come back."

"You didn't see the way his eyes looked, he was hurt but," Steve paused and looked Tony in the eyes, "he wanted to go back. He wanted to go to you, I could tell."

Tony held Steve's gaze, trying to see if Steve was lying to him and Steve held his gaze, a soft and piercing look. Tony sighed, he dropped his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck.

"God, I'm an idiot," Tony grumbled to himself.

Steve chuckled and walked over to Tony, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I think you should go and apologize to him," he said with a slight smile.