Revenge...

Sleeping

Stark's POV-
I feel bad, it's not Natasha's fault, she would never hurt Pete and I knew that.
"Dad?" I looked down to see Peter's tired, pained eyes looking up to me.
"Yeah, are you okay?" I asked quickly.
Peter shook his head.
"What's wrong?" That's a stupid fucking question, everything is wrong.
"Loki hit me. So many times...The same way Natasha was about to. But I couldn't stop it..." he started to cry, he wiped away the tears on his face before continuing, "my spider sense went insane but I couldn't do anything to stop him because my...my arms were pinned down... And now my spider sense isn't even working...I was so afraid... I just wanted you to help me..."
Jesus. Christ. The kids been through so much pain...
"I'm so sorry, you know I love you so much don't you? I wanted to find you more than anything. I'm so sorry." I held my head in my hands.
"Dad? Can you sit up here...please?" Peter moved over to the end of the bed and swung his legs to the side. I stood up and put my hand on his head and realised his temperature.
"You should put on a short sleeve top, you're boiling up." I took my hand away.
"I...Uhh... no thank you... I'm okay."
"Is there something you're not telling me?" I asked.
Peter just shook his head. I put my arm over his shoulder and we just sat there. I knew it would hurt him to think about it again, but I had to ask, I wanted to make sure he wouldn't have any more flashbacks to being hurt.
"Peter? I'm sorry. I have to ask you. Did anything thing else happen that you can remember? Please, take your time, think hard, okay?" I sighed.
"I...no... he just kept grabbing me... it was so violent... I don't want anyone to touch me that way ever again..." He started to sob quietly.
"When he grabbed you? Did it hurt your arms? Is that why you're not taking off your top?" I asked sympathetically.
Peter nodded and started to cry.
"The bruises, that's how they happened? That's okay. It's okay. You can show me." I smiled.
"...Dad it's... it's my right arm... it's so much worse..." He sobbed. I nodded understandingly. I touched his right arm and he just stayed still. I pulled up his sleeve gently and dropped his arm in shock. Peter looked away from me. His entire arm was littered with huge, purple bruises. He wasn't lying when he said he grabbed him violently.
"Jesus Christ." I whispered under my breath. Peter yanked down his sleeve and looked down.
"I don't wanna talk." He said quietly.
"Okay...okay." He wrapped his arms around my neck.
"I don't wanna... I don't want to talk about it." He spoke into my top.
"That's okay, that's fine. Don't worry." I rubbed his back.
He nodded but kept his grip on me.
I completely forgot about Bruce and Nat in those moments.
I pulled away from Peter to look around the room. Bruce had obviously left and Nat still wasn't in here.
"I wanna see Auntie Nat." Peter whispered.
"Okay... yeah. We'll go up the stairs and see where she is. Take your crutches." I said sternly.
"But I..."
"No. Take your crutches or we stay in here." I demanded. "C'mon." I helped him up and he put his crutches underneath his shoulders. He went into the elevator and we walked out into the main room. Natasha was sitting with her head down and a glass of vodka in her hand. She didn't even look up when we walked in. Peter hopped over to her and sat down. Natasha stood up and walked into the kitchen silently. Peter watched her sadly.
"It's okay. She'll talk to you when she feels better." I walked over to Peter.
"Loki hit me because I couldn't stop crying. It was while I was stuck to the bed... I tried to get out but I... I just... so he tightened the strap on my arm and just... just slapped me..."Peter's breath hitched. He moved closer to me and closed his eyes. "Then another like five times because I asked the soldier to help me." A while went by before his breathing evened out and I realised he was asleep. I stayed quiet until the elevator opened up. Clint and Steve walked out.
"Hey Tones. What's up?" Steve whispered, looking down at Peter. "Oh my God, his face." He gasped softly.
"Uh...can we talk?" I asked.
"Um...yeah." Steve said confusedly.
"Okay, I just had to tell you that it's probably for the best if everyone just keeps their distance from Peter right now. He's...emotionally scarred, not to mind the effect it had on him physically. I hope you can understand. Also, can you get me a blanket? Peter's on my arm and I don't wanna move him." I said quietly. Steve threw the duvet over us.
"Uhh...yeah. Yeah, that's okay. I understand. He needs time, what actually happened to him in there?" Steve asked.
"Too much. Fuck, it's too much. He abused him and prodded at him like a lab rat. His arms are just... just bruised and marked everywhere. You can't even see skin just... huge bruises. It's horrible. His face is the same, just kept hitting him over and over, blaming the kid for everything that happened. He can't leave my side for a second. Not that I mind, I'm not letting him leave me ever again. But he's had an extremely rough couple of months. So I just want you to understand that you shouldn't touch him until he's ready." I put my fingers through Peter's hair and he hid his head even further into my shoulder.
"I totally understand, so I've heard you're gonna adopt the kid huh?" Steve smirked.
"Yeah. May as well. I love him and I'm his dad. Do me a favour and call Happy and tell him to drop in the forms." I gestured to the phone using my free hand.
"Sure. Give me a second." Steve walked out while dialling.
Clint sat down across from me and put his hands on his knees.
"How've you been?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah. Not... not great. But it's getting better I think. Natasha isn't speaking to me because of an incident and Banner still has to do tests on Peter. So I guess it could be going better." I sighed.
"I'm sorry, I can't do much to help. But I can talk to Natasha for you. See if she's doing alright." Clint stood up. "She's probably in her room."
"Yeah that's fi..." Steve interrupted me.
"Happy's bringing down the papers now. He already has the legal information sorted." He smiled.
"Great. For now, my kid should sleep now though. Like I said, a long couple of months." I laid my head back against the wall. I tucked the blanket down the side of the sofa, covering Peter's legs.
"Thanks." Peter muttered, he turned holding the blanket in his hand as he breathed heavily.
"Well, I'm gonna let him sleep. Hang tight Tony."
"You too, Steve."