Alone

Hello?

Peter rubbed his eyes as he felt anger and sadness fill him up in his room. As he exhaled it's almost like he laughed at himself as he fell back into his bed. Without his binder he felt like shit, but he had to take it off since bruises had formed where his binder once was. Usually getting bruised or bloody gave him some sort of gender euphoria, but this just gave him a gross feeling. He searched for a crumpled piece of paper in his jacket pocket. His guidance counselor got tired of having to speak to him, so she just gave him a number to something called "The Trevor Project". He's heard of that before, but he didn't know there was a hotline for that. Peter took out his phone and went to calls. He copied the number into his phone. He looked back and forth from his phone and crumpled paper to make sure he got it all right. He didn't want to call the wrong number, that would be the worst. It was 7:00 and Peter was worried that maybe they would think it was annoying for a kid to call. He sat up and hovered his thumb over the call button. Peter squeezed his eyes shut and clicked. His phone buzzed for a while, which made him think that they wouldn't even answer, but it answered.

"... Hello?" asked the voice on the phone.

"Uh- um, hi? Is this the Trevor Project Hotline?" Peter asked.

"No? I'm not Trevor, sorry." replied the voice. Peter's stomach flipped and he felt his face heat up.

Peter said, "Oh. Oh my god. I'm so sorry, sir, I'm such an idiot. Wrong number, I'm hanging up." Peter quickly hung up before the voice could speak again. His phone buzzed and it was the same number calling him, and he hesitantly answered. 

"Kid, why are you trying to call a hotline? Do you need help? A Trevor hotline? I've never heard of Trevor." the voice asked on the phone.

"I don't really feel comfortable explaining The Trevor Project to a stranger." Peter answered.

"My name's Tony." Tony said, "See? Now we're not strangers."

"That's not how it works. Anyways, I'm not sure I would be comfortable explaining it to anyone. If we're gonna talk can it not be about it?" responded Peter.

"Sure, we don't have to talk about that, um, so... how's school?" asked Tony.

"You sound like my Aunt." Peter joked.

"I'm taking that as a compliment, kid." Tony said, "Could you at least tell me your name?"

Peter sighed and said seriously, "Robert." 

"There is no way in hell that's your name." Tony replied.

"Timmy." Peter added.

Tony laughed, "Timothy??? Timothy?! Come on, kid. You are the worst liar."

"How bout... Chad." Peter said.

"I can't tell if you're trying to be serious or not, because these are the worst names." Tony said.

"Fiiine, Tony. My name's Peter." Peter answered.

"That fits. You seem like a Peter." Tony said.

"You seem like a Tony. Like Tony Stark, it's funny because you kinda sound like him too." said Peter.

"Haha, yeahhh, that's funny." Tony said awkwardly.

"Wait, do you know about Tony?!" asked Peter, with excitement.

"Yeah... I actually know him personally. I work with him." Tony bragged. Tony was quite literally Tony Stark himself, but he couldn't tell the kid that. 

"WHAT! I LOVE HIM, TELL HIM I LOVE HIM, WAIT ACTUALLY NO, THAT'S WEIRD! HE DOESN'T KNOW ME." Peter yelled.

Tony bursted out laughing and said in between laughs, "Woow, yes, I'll tell him that. I'll say 'Robert' from the phone loves him. I'm sure he'll understand."

"NO PLEASE NO!" Peter said.

"I'm joking, I won't say anything, Peter." Tony said with a chuckle.

"Thank god." Peter exclaimed. 

"You feeling better, kiddo?" Tony asked, softly.

"Yeah. Thank you, old man." said Peter.

"Old man?! You are on thin ice, Pete. I happen to be a dashing young man." responded Tony

"Lies!" Peter joked. 

From another room, Aunt May shouted, "Dinner's ready!"

"Oh, I need to go, I gotta eat." Peter said.

"Kay, bye, kid, you can talk to me whenever you're feeling down." Tony said.

"Okay, okay, bye!" Peter said quickly and then hung up. Peter ran to the dining room and sat down in a chair. 

"So, Peter, I didn't get to ask earlier, how's school?" asked Aunt May.

Peter started to laugh a bit and answered, "Someone literally asked me that same question today. School's the same, it's fine."

"That's great!... If anyone is bullying you, please tell me immediately, okay?" said Aunt May with a worried face.

"Yep." Peter lied. 

After Peter hung up on Tony Stark, Tony asked Friday, "Friday, what is the Trevor Project?"

Friday answered, "The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998 focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth. Through a toll-free telephone number, it operates The Trevor Lifeline, a confidential service that offers trained counselors."

"Oh." Tony said, "Friday, could you educate me more on the term 'transgender'?"