a sky full of stars {Irondad - Febuwhump}

thought you were human but you're just a ghost , a shield of skin and bone

Day 17 & 18 – Mind Games & Revealed Secret 

(a request by iluvmesumtrash) 

*

Peter's shoulders tense, keeping his eyes downcast.

"Mister Stark-"

"No!" Tony shouts, slamming his fist down on the edge of the roof. "This is where you zip it. You are not going after the Vulture. Ever. You hear me?"

Peter tries his best to hide his flinch, guilt and self-loathing rushing over him. He failed. Again.

"Mister Stark, please-"

Tony grabs the front of Peter's stupid I Survived My Trip To NYC t-shirt, crumpling the fabric in his grip.

"If you disobey my direct orders again, I'll do something more drastic than take your suit, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Peter chokes out, blinking back the tears that fill his eyes.

Tony lets go of him, smirking when Peter stumbles back a few steps. "Good. Now get out of here. And if I hear that you've been snooping around in The Vulture's business again..."

The threat is heard without being said.

"Yes, sir."

Peter tries to keep his pace as even as he can as he walks away from Tony, heading towards the door.

What Peter doesn't see as the door closes behind him and he begins his trek back to his apartment, is the flickering holograms and Tony's face morphing into Beck's pleased sneer.

*

"I shouldn't have met him," Peter says, face crumpling when he finally gets May to stop panicking. It's a poor explanation but she can't know he's Spider-Man. "Meeting your heroes is never as good as you think it'll be."

May's eyes harden briefly, probably preparing herself to chew Tony out for hurting her nephew, but then she watches her kid's bottom lip tremble as he sits on the couch, shoulders dropping, and her expression softens.

"Whatever he said to you, he's wrong," she says, gently carding her fingers through Peter's curls and rubbing his back. He leans his head up against his stomach, tears slipping down his face. "You're the best kid I know, baby, and he's an asshole for hurting you."

"It's just- I thought I was doing good, I was trying so hard, and I just- He- I just wanted to do something right and he shouted at me."

May sighs softly. "You don't need him, okay? You didn't deserve that and if I ever see him again, I'll make sure to give him a piece of my mind."

That gets Peter to laugh quietly. "Yeah, sure, but I doubt we'll be seeing him again anytime soon."

Fingers gentle and careful on his jaw, May lifts his head up to look down at him, thumb running underneath his eyes to catch the tears that fall, and she presses a kiss to his forehead.

"Don't you go believing Stark that you're not enough, okay? You don't need to change a single thing about you for some billionaire asshole's opinion of you... Well, I could do with you not sneaking out or skipping school, but you know, we can't have everything, can we?"

Peter doesn't tell her that because he's lost the suit, he doesn't have a reason to sneak out or skip school anymore. He doesn't tell her that Tony's been his hero since he was five and Iron Man saved him at the Stark Expo, that he's been idolizing the hero for even longer. He doesn't tell her that the words have already sunk into his chest and wrapped around his lungs, planting themselves deep within him.