Melancholy Hope {Spiderson&Irondad}

Chapter 14

MJ's POV

It's late and I'm home alone, my family went to my grandparents house but I was tired so I stayed home. Apparently, it was a good idea.

There's a knock on the door and I push the blanket off my legs, pausing the tv show.

Who would be at my door near 11pm??

I open the door slowly, keeping myself on high alert until I see it's just Peter.

He's shaking with his sobs, eyes wild and scared. Fingers clutching the side of his face.

"Peter? What- What happened? Are you okay? Come in," I say, immediately losing my cool on the situation.

"He promised!" Peter cries, sounding angry and confused and scared. "He promised. He promised. He promised."

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. Come inside," I repeat, taking his hand gently and leading him into the living room so I can sit him down.

There's a big red mark on his face, already turning blue on his cheekbone as the brusie begins to form.

"He promised!" The boy sobs, bringing his knees up to his chest to hide his face as he cries. 

"Who promised? What happened, Peter? Are you okay?" I ask, worried that maybe something happened with the May and Tony situation.

"He promised," Peter echoes, hiccuping into his knees. He looks up at me with his sad bambi eyes and something inside me shatters at his sadness. Whatever happened is pretty obviously really bad. 

"I'm going to get you some ice, okay? Everything's going to be okay. Take some deep breaths. I'll be right back," I say, nodding my head and patiently waiting for him to nod his head and begin his breathing exercises, before I bring myself to my feet.

When I get back with a bag of frozen peas, Peter's mostly stopped crying, wiping away the excess tears that slip past his emotional barricade. 

"Hey, Peter. I got you some peas to hopefully stop your cheek from swelling," I explain, pressing the bag to his face and replacing my hand with his. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

"Mister Stark... Mister Stark's been- He's been stressed. He's scared- scared of losing me... He was, um, he was drinking. He didn't- He didn't mean to. He was just- just scared and confused... And I fucked up and he was angry- he was really angry.. And he, um, he.." Peter doesn't even finish his sentence, my blood running cold.

"Did Tony hit you?" I demand, anger ripping through my lungs. 

"He promised."

*

{3 hours earlier}

Peter's POV

"Tony hasn't been doing too great," Happy says as I get into the front seat of the car after school. Last night had been such hell, I need some time with Tony to screw my head on right. 

"What do you mean?" I ask, hating how naive I sound.

"He's been stressing himself out with this case. Barely slept last night. He's trying so hard to get you back, fully back, and I guess he just freaked. He got drunk last night. Really drunk. Had a massive hangover this morning. Pepper was pissed. Hasn't been looking great... How was May's?" Happy says, pulling out of the parking lot and beginning the drive back to the tower.

"Not great. She locked me in my room... I didn't sleep. Didn't eat at all. I don't like her. She doesn't trust me and she acts like I'm an animal. Like I'm going to attack her or run away or something. I wouldn't do that. It would ruin everything," I explain, fiddling with the hem of my shirt.