Beyond Control (PJO/HoO + Avengers Crossover)

Chapter 25

Bruce stood up "Percy," he said, "listen to yourself. Clint? Really?! He would never do anything to hurt anyone- let alone Peter!"

"Are you sure about that?" Percy asked, "Really, how confident are you in that answer? Cause I remember Nat, arguably the person who knows Clint the best, saying something the other day about, gods what words did she use?" Percy paused and pretended to think. "That- that he went rouge and, could the worlds be mercilessly assassinated countless people?"

"He was dealing with his grief, Percy you have to understand. During the Blip he lost his wife, his kids, everything he had was just ripped away from him and he-"

"Y'know," Percy interrupted, "I lived through the snap too. I lost a lot of people. My mom, my little sister, my stepdad, my friends, my girlfriend-" he stopped himself, "sorry. Ex-girlfriend. I lost her for five years and now she's gone for the rest of my life. But I didn't go around and kill people because of my grief did I? Cause I wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt anyone. You can't say the same for Clint. Can you?"

There was a brief pause before Bruce answered. "I remember specifically asking you to stay calm and sit down, Percy. Please. Take some breaths and just sit down and we can figure out who attacked Peter together, alright?" 

"No, sorry," Percy started making his way towards the stairs. "But if you're not gonna let me see Peter right now, come and get me when you plan on it. You interrupted my phone call."

- - -

"Mr. Stark I- I couldn't." Peter said, now having gathered his surroundings. 

"Pete, c'mon. You'll be helping me out more than yourself, hanging out with an old man." 

"Alright, fine, sure Mr. Stark, I'll go suit shopping with you." Peter chuckled, thinking of the thought. Suit shopping with Mr. Stark! This could make or break their relationship, not that it wasn't already ideal. Then he remembered what he was suit shopping for. 

The trial. 

He was going to have to confront May in front of the court, just the thought sent him into a panic. Peter didn't want to face May, she had taken care of him for so long. But, Mr. Stark had convinced him the abuse was, well, abuse. Deep down, through all the denial, Peter knew that but he has just been too scared to admit it. He guessed his face had fallen at the thought. 

"Hey," Tony stared, "it's gonna be alright." He put his hand over Peter's arm. "I'm gonna be right by you, and if I'm not allowed to, well shit kid I'm Tony Stark, I'll find a way. I always do."  They both laughed at that, not because it was funny but because it was so true both Tony and Peter knew that it didn't need saying. "But uh, seriously, Pete. Are you gonna be okay during this trial? I know the date's not set yet but it's not gonna be for about three or four months so we'll get you recovered and get you prepared. With a good suit. I promise."

Peter's tears were welling up, but he knew he had to fight them back. "Yeah, Mr. Stark, I should be okay. I know it's gonna be tough facing her in court and all but I'll man up, don't worry."

"Peter you're one of if not the strongest kid I know. I don't think you can man up anymore. And don't worry we're gonna find who hurt you just now, and threw the star into your arm. And they're gonna get hell, don't worry. They won't have the privilege of going to court like your aunt will." Tony smiled at Peter, though the thought of the kid going to court shook Tony to his core. He's been in a courtroom before, when they were trying to figure out what happened to his parents. He knew it wasn't pretty, and how much it could screw you up. He couldn't even think about going to court against the one who had cared for him, he didn't want to imagine how it would feel testifying against your own aunt, essentially mom. 

"Yeah, I do have a question about court though Mr. Stark," Peter began to ask, pulling Tony out of his thoughts. 

"Of course, Pete. Lay it on me."

"Will I, uh, will I just have to testify against Aunt May or will Bill be there too? Cause, cause I don't think it's fair if it's just May cause y'know I know she's been, y'know..." he still couldn't bring himself to admit out loud that May was abusing him. He had internally accepted and acknowledged it, but part of him would never admit it. Normally it would just be something he had to work through on his own, but now he needed as much help as possible to work on it before court. "She's been hurting me longer than Bill, I know, but it's not all that smart do you think because they both had hurt me and well if we have to do court let's just do it right, y'know?" Peter finally managed to spit out. "Sorry that sounded very confusing I didn't think out what to say before I just said it." Tony laughed. "What?"

"You're good, I got the gist. Do you always plan out what to say before you say it?" Tony didn't know whether to be amused or scared.

"Well yeah, y'know so I don't mess up what to say and to make sure it's good. I mean not always because sometimes there isn't a long enough pause in the conversation or it's like intense. Like when I'm talking to you guys over the earpiece I can't really plan that out so I don't really know what I'm gonna say, but if I'm gonna walk into the kitchen for a conversation I normally know what you're gonna say and how the conversations gonna go so it's easy to plan."

Tony laughed again, but this time mostly to himself. "Well, that's gonna be good for court, right?"

Peter falsely laughed along, the thought of court made him want to hide. "Yeah, yeah I guess. Sorry."

"You say sorry a lot kid."

"I feel it a lot."

"Something we'll work on."

"Don't think I can."

"I'm gonna get you some water."

"Alright."

Tony stood up and pushed his chair back into the corner. Normally Peter would have insisted that he got his own water, but if he stood up he felt like he would pass out, and that would just cause a bigger fuss. "Oh, one more question," Tony asked, stopping himself in the doorway.

"What's up?"

"Your villain banter, like when you make fun of the villains when you're fighting them-"

"My quips?"

"Yeah yeah whatever, do you like sit in your room and look in the mirror and practice them?" Tony started laughing to himself, "like rehearsing your lines in the mirror?" Peter laughed and threw the pillow at Tony, who put his arms up in a weak attempt to protect himself from the cotton covered feathers. "No! I- I'm serious! This is a serious question!" Neither of them would stop laughing. "Are you sitting there like C'mon guys I gotta wrap this up it's a school night, good good write that one down, okay , okay." 

Both of them were cracking up, "C'mon man!" Peter interjected. "You haven't ever planned something out before you say it?"

"No!" Tony protested. "All my first thoughts are the best ones! I just roll with it and don't think, it's a game changer!" 

"Uh huh, go get me some water waiter."

"Was that line planned out?"

Peter used his webs to grab the pillow off of Tony's chair and throw it at him whole screaming "Get out of here!" And laughing and he exited.

a/n: sorry it's been like over a month... life got tough but we're BACK. we had some drama but did i just give yall a 1300+ word chapter with FLUFF??? i promise i'll be better with updating but it's 1:45 and i gotta edit this so goodnight mortals i love all of yall❤️❤️