It's Going To Be Hard ~ Irondad

Chapter 11 - The cover up

Peter felt the car gradually roll to a stop and faked the whole process of gradually waking up and stretching. With his hood drawn tightly around his black and blue face he clicked the side door open and swung his legs clumsily out of the car. However, before he could make a break for the tower door Happy took a boulder like stance in front of him. Peter's insides churned. If Happy saw the state his face was in he was definitely tell Mr. Stark and then the rest of the avengers would find out and then Flash would probably end up dead somehow. Quite honestly he didn't want to have to deal with that whole fiasco.

Peter hung his head low letting the drawstrings on his hoodie drag across his thighs before murmuring a low 'thank you' and trying to sidestep around Happy. Happy, however, was not going to let Peter slide away that easily. At least that's he thought. Happy tightly wrapped his large hand around Peter's upper arm in an attempt to check that the young boy was all right. He wasn't one hundred percent sure something was wrong with Peter, he just wanted to check everything was okay. However, he succeeded in only making things worse for the poor teenager. Peter let out a low hiss that combined the slight twinge of pain as Happy's fingers pressed into a bruise and the unwanted images of Miss's hands that clawed their ways into view from the dredges of Peter's brain.

Abruptly Happy realised his mistake and quickly removed his hand remembering the conversation Peter had had with the team mentioning that he was fine with physical affection as long as he wasn't grabbed around the arms. Exactly what Happy had done.

"Peter i'm so sorry. I forgot. Are you okay?" Happy quickly stuttered in his low voice. He and Peter had grown closer over the last couple of months however he still wasn't overly comfortable in comforting the teenager in his times of distress. 

Peter paused for a second before letting out a "it's fine Happy you just startled me a bit. Uh, I've got a lot of homework so I'm just gonna go now" before trudging through the door and hastily making his way up to his room without even calling out a hello to the rest of the Avengers waiting in the room next door. It was safe to say that Happy was extremely worried. He had sensed that something was off with Peter before he had even confronted him and the hood that shrouded Peter's face was an unusual addition to the teens everyday look.

Happy trudged into the common room and glanced up at the hopeful eyes of the rest of the Avengers eagerly waiting to hear about Peter's first day back at school. Tony slowly stood up from his place on the sofa concerned about the lack of a happy Peter bouncing into the room.

"What's the update then Happy?" Tony asked.

"He seemed fine when he first got in the car but then he fell asleep and kept his hood up the whole journey. He wouldn't even look me in the eye, he just kept his head down." Happy explained. "I'm sorry if i did something wrong" He tacked onto the end.

"Shit." Tony grumbled "Maybe his senses were overloaded. I'm gonna go check up on him". He quickly walked out of the room and round the familiar winding halls of the compound before reaching the very familiar door. He drew a short breath in before rapping his knuckles against the wood. He heard a shuffle and then the door was cracked open just an inch to reveal his small teen enshrouded in a hoodie.

Peter knew he couldn't let anyone see his face, however, he also knew he had to give the Avengers some sort of interaction or they would start needlessly worrying over him. Therefore, he plastered on a cheery atmosphere around him and announced "Sorry i didn't come to say hi Mr.Stark I'm actually drowning in a river of homework and i really need to get started on it all."

Tony frowned. This much homework on the first day of school? "you sure you're all right Kiddo? Whats the the mysterious hood?" He asked through the crack of the door. 

"Uhhh. I just got kinda cold and it makes doing all this homework feel more comfortable." Peter stuttered. Tony hummed in slight agreement before telling Peter to make sure to get a good nights sleep and leaving for the common room again. Peter let out a sigh of relief before flopping down on his bed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

----------------------------------------------

I'm back :)

-M