You can trust now, Peter darling

41

It was the next day at 3pm when Tony came to pick Peter up, wearing a smile that could reach the sun.

He spoke with T'Challa and Ayo before Peter even noticed he was there. He was too busy with Shuri. They were currently holding sticks in their hands, pretending they were lightsabers because T'Challa forbid Shuri from making real ones.

Tony watched them with an idiotic smile on his face, whilst also tuning into T'Challa and Ayo's conversation.

"Most of the trauma has been released, but he still has his mental disorders." Ayo explained. "The point of the sessions weren't about getting rid of them, it was about dealing with them."

"Yeah, about that." Tony said, finally tearing his eyes away from his son and Shuri for a few seconds. "After the whole...mutism incident....I did my research and apparently most kids with selective mutism also have a genetic predisposition to anxiety?"

Ayo seemed impressed at his research skills and thought that maybe he was a great father after all. "Yes, that is the case for most kids. For Peter, the trauma from HYDRA was enough to stunt his speaking, but he also has separation anxiety which most likely is a factor as well."

Tony remembered looking at the factors and symptoms.

'Very often, these children show signs of severe anxiety,' All Tony could think about was Peter's nervous posture, his stuttering, his anxious glancing and so on. 'such as separation anxiety,' All Tony could think about during those months was the look on the kid's face when Tony told him he was leaving him there. 'frequent tantrums and crying,' Tony remembered Peter smashing a glass on the floor. 'sleep problems,' The amount of times the boy has crawled into Tony's bed, or have the man come to his because he couldn't sleep was uncanny. 'and extreme shyness.' His inability to speak to people he didn't know.

"Yeah, I thought just as much. I actually do have a couple of questions. Like, I came across traumatic mutism. Shouldn't he have that instead of selective?"

"That's a good question. He has selective and not traumatic because he found it difficult to speak when he was a child as well. His anxiety didn't help with that, and then there was the HYDRA situation which finally triggered it."

"Right, yeah...yeah that makes sense." Tony muttered to himself, looking back at Peter who was now sat down with Shuri, obviously talking about something funny as they were both crying with laughter. Tony smiled and turned back to Ayo and T'Challa.

"We've helped him understand his issues and his trauma, but things like his mutism and his anxiety are just things that will heal overtime." Tony nodded along, trying not to divert his attention back to Peter.

"If you have any worries or questions, don't hesitate to call. Peter is such a bright young boy, I don't want to see him suffer alone." T'Challa said.

"Of course. Thank you, T'Challa." He said, shaking his hand. He then moved to shake Ayo's hand. "It means a lot, what you've done for him."

"It was my pleasure." Ayo said, bowing her head and walking off with T'Challa. They had already said goodbye to Peter and gave him back his phone. Their work was done.

Tony sighed to himself and redirected his attention to Peter and Shuri. They were both pretending the sticks were magic wands, now. Tony scoffed, he didn't know that the kid liked Harry Potter. Unless it was Shuri's idea.

He decided he had enough of staring at Peter and finally started moving his legs towards him. He felt excitement bubble back in his chest at the mere thought of holding him again. It had almost been two months since he was sat with Peter in his hut, and now he could finally sit with him in their own home.