Kid?

Chapter 3: It's just an Overreaction...Isn't it?

Note: I've decided that May died. I've gone back and changed like a sentence to show this. For those of you who have read the first chapters before this one already and also just generally to give more context to it, basically May got sick and the doctors didn't know what it was and she past away. This is another thing that Peter blames himself for even though there was nothing he could do. Also I'm going to say it happened quite a while before the snap.

Peter spent the following days doing his best to convince everyone he was fine. He kept up appearances around the tower so no one thought he was hiding away, he hid his limp, and even in school he did his best to engage with his friends. The last one just seemed like common decency, his friends deserved better than him. So Peter knew he had to try and be better. He laughed at the appropriate moments, did his very best to pull himself back when he zoned out, he stayed after school at the library when Ned and MJ stayed, and he tried to join in their conversations. This is the kind of person Peter knew his friends wanted. They didn't want the mopey him that they had been getting for months.

It was now Thursday and Peter couldn't believe how torturously long this week was taking. As he walked away from his friends Ned followed him a few steps.
"Hey Peter, you've seemed a lot more upbeat the last few days."
"Uh yeah I guess, why?"
"Oh it's nothing," Ned almost laughed, "I just wanted to say it's nice."
Peter smiled, "yeah," He dug his nails into his thighs where Ned couldn't see, "I guess it feels like things are finally going up."

It hurt Peter, of course Ned liked him better when he was doing a masterful job of hiding his problems, no one wants to have to deal with other people's problems. But there was some part of Peter that almost couldn't believe his best friend had fallen for his lies. Ned wanted to believe what he saw coming from Peter. Ned was a great guy, he was happy Peter was happy, and so Peter decided he must always show himself as happy. He didn't need to become more of a burden on the people around him. It was bad enough Tony had to take him in after he let Aunt May die, he didn't need to cause anymore trouble. Those were the thoughts that stuck to his mind as he began his walk home.

Meanwhile, Peter was unaware of MJ shooting him a suspicious look from where she was standing.

Tony sat at his wooden desk and tapped his fingers. He had to figure this out. Peter was due home from School soon and he still had no idea what to do with him. After Monday night the kid had seemed good, like he was doing well. However it all felt a little too fake to Tony. Having had his own fair share of experiences with hiding what was happening from people around him, he was well versed in recognising the signs. Tony huffed as he stood up, this puzzle was frustrating him to no end. He walked out his workshop and let the elevator take him to the floor he was looking for. With the amount of stress distracting his mind, Tony practically barged into Steve.
"Ugh Fuck."
"Woah there, calm down Tony." Cap spoke in a calming tone,"What's going on with you?"
He just walked around Steve and went into the kitchen. It looked out onto the living room area where they had sat and watched the movie Monday. Tony flashed back to seeing Peter that night. Flinging a mug out of the cupboard Tony glared at the coffee machine while Cap looked on with a look of bemusement.
"Want to talk about it?" Steve could tell this wasn't Tony's usual anger from when he got annoyed at work or at the fallible nature of people. He was skeptical that Tony would actually talk to him, that wasn't exactly one of his go to moves. Yet he was pleasantly surprised when Tony actually began to say something.
"It's the kid."
"Peter?" Cap furrowed his brow, "what about him?"
"Oh come on you know," Tony voice was slowly raising." You were there Monday."
"I was."
"Exactly! So do you have any idea what's going on with him, because I certainly don't. His suit hasn't been used for months- I checked- and I'm struggling to come up with another reason why he would be bleeding other than patrol, and especially to that extent. Never mind why he's hiding it. He is my kid. My responsibility. So tell me what on earth I've got to do to help him. Tell me and I'll do it." His breathing was heavy, everything he had been feeling over the past few days seemed to just fall out of him.
"Look, I know you care about Peter. We all care about him, but I also get that it's different for you. Maybe it really was just a spill. Like you said, there aren't any other reasons that make sense. Not to sound patronising, but you lost him before, have you considered this is just you being paranoid about loosing him again. I'm sure nothing bad is happening, he knows you care about him and I'm sure he knows you'd help him if he needed it."
"Steve, I just. I don't know, Maybe." He let out a defeated sigh and made eye contact with Cap. Who was looking at him with pitying eyes. Maybe Cap was actually spot on with his hypothesis.
But that conclusion didn't sit right with Tony. Peter was hiding something from him. He intended to find out what it was.

Published: 22.06.2019