SpiderDad and IronSon | An IronDad and SpiderSon Swap AU

Chapter 6

Tony woke up the next morning in a mess of blankets. He unraveled himself, falling onto the floor and forcing himself to get up. He went to his closet that had a few outfits in it from when he stayed at the tower before.

It took him a few minutes to pick a grey knitted sweater and a pair of black jeans. He put them on, rustling around the messy closet floor until he found a pair of socks. He slipped those on too, happy that his feet were no longer absolutely freezing.

He went and looked in the mirror. His black eye was fading but not gone completely, and he still kinda looked like he had been crying. After staring at his reflection for a long time he started to feel angry and hateful towards himself so he turned away, trying to find something to busy himself with.

He went to the bed and started to fix up the blankets, making sure they were absolutely perfect. He always got in trouble with Howard for not making his bed right, so it had become an obsessive habit. Once he had done that, he sighed heavily and went to check his phone.

Which he then remembered was on the floor, probably broken beyond repair. He picked it up anyways, pressing the power button. The shattered screen lit up for a second, displayed a sad Android robot, and flickered out. He tried again and it didn't light up at all, so he chucked it across the room into the trash can.

Once he realized that he had nothing else to do, he left the room to go find Peter. And breakfast. Breakfast first, then Peter.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a waffle from the freezer, putting it in the toaster and pushing the knob down. He sat down backwards in a chair and crossed his arms over the back, resting his head on them.

"What's up, kid? You look bummed out." MJ said, leaning on the counter and taking a bite of the cookie she was holding. Tony looked up at her.

"Not much, just tired. And life kinda sucks right now." He mumbled, closing his eyes again. He was still exhausted and he sort of wanted to sleep for like a hundred years.

"Things'll get better, kid. Eventually." MJ reassured. Tony gave a tired thumbs up as she left the room because Flash was telling her to. Probably for a prank.

The waffle popped up from the toaster and Tony grabbed it, tearing it in half and taking a bite out of the bigger half. He sat back down, munching on the waffle even though he wasn't that hungry anymore. After a while, Peter walked into the kitchen, fully dressed but still obviously tired.

"I wish I could get more energy. Why can't I just charge up like a phone does, with a cord or something." He muttered, sitting down cross-legged on a chair.

"Why can't you just have coffee? It's already made." Tony suggested. Peter sighed.

"I want to, but if I drink it after taking my anxiety medication it makes me more anxious. And if I don't take the medication, well, it sucks to exist more than it usually does." He explained. Tony just nodded along, almost falling asleep again.

They sat in slightly uncomfortable silence for a while before deciding to get going so they could get Tony's new phone and stuff. Peter put on his dumb, definitely not helpful "Undercover Hat" which was just a black baseball cap that said 'Parker Industries' on it.

----

They got to the mall and went to The Source to get Tony's new phone. He didn't spend long looking at them, easily choosing the Google Pixel 3 as his new one. Peter paid for it (of course, since Tony had no money) and they got it activated. They got all the files and stuff from the old phone transferred over from the SD card that Tony had salvaged.

He waited for the phone to turn on and was startled when it immediately started repeating the text notification sound as notifications appeared on the screen, some from Howard and the rest from his friends. He hovered his finger over a notification from Howard before tapping on one from Steve.

PatrioticDumbass: tony are you okay

PatrioticDumbass: tonyyyy

PatrioticDumbass: tony answer my texts i'm forking worried about you

Tony sighed and typed up a response, which was just "we'll talk later I'm busy" followed by his custom sad yeehaw emoji.

They went to a bunch of other stores, none of which interested Tony. Peter encouraged him to ask for things, but Tony just felt bad about it. They eventually went back to the tower. Tony went to his room immediately, promising to eat dinner later.

He sat on the floor and disassembled the Iron Man suit cube, taking the foot jets and starting to tinker with them, just using his fingers instead of real tools. He turned them on to test to make sure they were working properly.

He didn't even real what he was doing, but he held the flame on his fingers until it hurt and he jolted away. He was compelled to do it again but he didn't, suddenly filled with shame and guilt just because of doing that. It made him feel alive and, just, something. And he hated it. He hated that it made him feel better than he had all day.

He put the suit back into the cube and pushed it to the corner, grabbing his new phone and sitting on the bed.

He opened the texts from Howard.

[A/N: hngnjg poor Tony,,, things won't get better for him for a while i'm so sorry??? next chapter will either be a group chat text chapter or Tony will go back to school and meet the new kid,,, hdndjjd i'm so excited for that]