If only he knew

Dinner

Peter had nightmares. He had these nightmares frequently. In the thick of them he felt he could see vivid colours, and large shapes. But when he woke, he wouldn't remember a thing. He thought he could feel hands, or eyes. But he couldn't make heads or tales of it.

He tried bringing them up to his therapist, but he'd brush them off. Peter thought that therapists were supposed to listen, write everything down, ask every question. But maybe he was wrong.

————————

Tony had noticed something different about Peter after the whole "Boyfriend" thing. The boy seemed mentally checked out. He hadn't asked to babysit Harley or to help Tony with his work. In fact, Tony hadn't really seen the boy at all in the last month.

He'd seen him maybe once since they'd last spoken.

And that upset Tony. It really shouldn't have. But it did.

Harley had started asking about Peter. Saying things like...

"Daddy why does Peter look so sad"

And Tony didn't have an answer. So he decided to get down to the bottom of it.

——————

Tony's plan fell into action when he saw Peter walk out to get the mail one morning.

"Peter!" Tony yelled from the front step.

The boy looked to him with a frown. Tony walked over to him, and put his hand on Peters shoulder. The boy felt like he lost a lot of weight.

"How have you been, kiddo?" Tony asked.

"I've been fine, Mr. Stark," Peter  said quietly.

"I was just wondering, maybe you'd wanna come over for dinner tonight? Harley's gonna be at his friends and I wanna spend some time with you!" Tony turned on this charming old man smile.

Peter blushed and turned away.

"Sure, that's sounds fun," Peter said quietly.

—————

Peter showed up around six, he'd worn a short sleeve blue button down and black jeans. The kid looked adorable. He also looked nervous.

"Have a seat Pete," Tony giggles at the rhyme.

Peter sat down at the table and put his hands under his legs. Tony sat across from him and started to make small talk while the dinner was in the oven.

Peter seemed to be in a bad mood, so Tony didn't press him for answers.

"So Pete, how's that boyfriend or yours?"

Peter flinched.

"He's fine."

"What's his name?"

"Harry Osborn."

That's when Tony spit out his drink.