You can trust now, Peter darling

22

Peter's heart was racing as the man slowly made his way towards him.

The boy's tears were running down his face again.

"No. No, you can't be here. It's not you. You're dead." Peter repeated more to himself than to the man.

"It's me, Peter. I swear, it's me." The man said, eyes filling with tears.

"No! My dad died 8 years ago!" Peter screamed, backing away from the man who was definitely not his father.

"I know it's a lot to comprehend, Peter. I know! But it's me, I'm here. I'm alive. I always have been." The man said as he finally reached Peter.

"How do you know my name?!"

"Peter, please just listen to me." The man said calmly as he carefully held Peter's hands.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Peter shouted at him, trying to pull away.

"I had to leave, Peter. They were after us and I didn't realize until it was too late. I tried to save your mother, I really did." He said, trying to calm him down.

"Oh my god. This can't be happening. I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming. This is another nightmare, isn't it?" Peter whispered to himself.

"You're not dreaming, Peter." The man said, tears falling down his own face. "I missed you so much. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day."

"I don't understand. You're supposed to be dead. You are dead!" Peter said, voice and lips shaking. He was starting to think that this man could possibly be his father.

"Is there a body in this grave, Pete?" The man said as he gestured to Richard's headstone. Peter shook is head and started sobbing again.

"I swear to you, I'll explain everything. Let's talk somewhere private, yeah?" He said, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Dad..." Peter looked up at the man. He nodded and the boy fell into his chest, wrapping his hands around his torso.

Richard ran his hand up and down the boy's back as he sobbed into him.

"I missed you too." Peter said, his voice muffled.

—————————————————————————————————————

"You've grown so much. I can't believe it." Richard said. Peter nodded sadly, fiddling with the handle of his mug. They were both sat in a quiet cafe, it was very discreet.

"Do you know about May and Ben?" Peter asked, eyes still fixed on the mug.

"Yes, I'm aware. I'm so sorry all of this happened to you, son. It breaks my heart just thinking about what you must've went through. What you're going through." Richard sighed.

"I've been through more than you know. And all of it could've been prevented if you just came back." Peter said, gritting his teeth. It was true. If his father came back for him, he would have extra protection. Things could've been different.

"I know you must have a lot of questions." Richard said, sitting up in his seat.

Peter finally looked up at his father.

"I have a new dad." He said, suddenly. "I'm sorry."

"I suspected you would. I'm happy for you, Peter. But just remember, I'll always be your father."

"How did you even find me?"

"There's...a lot to unpack."

"Can you just...start from the plane crash?" Peter said quickly, trying to prevent the tears.

"Yeah...yeah, okay." The man cleared his throat. "So...me and your mother were on our way to Switzerland for Oscorp business. That's when...the plane was hijacked and it crashed."

"The next thing I knew, I was in the ocean, searching for your mother. Then I saw the blood a-and...well, I knew she was dead. So I swam. I swam like my life depended on it, because it did. I swam until I found an island. And that's where I stayed for years, I barely survived. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of getting back to you."

"Then, there was hope. A few men were out on their boat. I called for help and they gave me a ride. I was eventually back home and everything was different. Your mother was gone, you were gone, Ben was gone, May was gone. I had no idea where to find you. And even if I did, I had no idea what to say. Then I thought about the people who hijacked my plane, and I couldn't help but wonder that...if I found my way back to you...would that put you in danger? So I stayed away. That was 5 years ago."

"I lived without you for 8 years and it was slowly killing me. So I decided it was time to try and find you. And now we're here." The man finished telling the story.

Peter sat back, processing all the information. It was just too much. None of it felt real. He glanced at the time on his phone, it was 5:58pm. He had thousands of missed calls and messages from Ned and MJ.

"Please say something, Peter."

The boy looked up and him and blinked.

"What do you want me to say? I'm glad you're back? I completely understand what you did? Let's go buy a house together and become father and son again?"

"I couldn't risk putting you in danger, Peter. You have to understand that!" Richard reasoned. Peter felt the tears swarm his eyes again.

"You don't get it! I was in danger anyway! You coming back to me probably would've stopped that, but you chose not to!" Peter suddenly shouted.

"What?" Richard asked, voice quiet.

"I thought you knew. I thought maybe you figured it out and that's why you found me. But apparently not. I was kidnapped 4 years ago. I was tortured. For 4 whole years." Peter told the man.

"Oh my god..." was all that Richard could get out.

"You should've come back for me." Peter whispered. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Who...who took you?" Richard asked, breaking the silence. Peter let out a shaky breath and looked up at the man. Then suddenly, out of no where, he remembered every bad memory about his father.

The arguments he had with his mother. The conversation they had about making deals with people for Oscorp. Him insulting Tony Stark.

That's when Peter felt his spider sense spike again. Just like they did when he first saw the man.

"I'm sorry. This- this is too much. I need to leave." Peter said as he grabbed his phone and stood up. Richard stood up immediately after him.

"Wait, Peter, please. I can't lose you again." The man said desperately. Peter saw the heart broken look in his father's eyes and immediately felt guilty.

"Let me put my number in your phone at least. Then you can talk to me at any time. Because we need to, Peter. We need to talk again."

Peter thought about it and eventually nodded, handing the man his unlocked phone. Richard tapped on it for a while before handing it back to him.

"If you really want to leave, then you can. I won't stop you. But you can't just stop seeing me forever, Peter. You're my son."

Peter breathed in, and out. He stuffed his phone into his pocket.

"I guess I'll see you later then." Peter muttered and left the cafe.