Peter dissociates. The first time Tony saw one of these episodes he… well he freaked. He walked into the living room and Peter was on the couch staring at nothing. His eyes were dull and he stared straight ahead, miles and miles away. Tony had called out to him, but to no avail. He yelled for FRIDAY to get Bruce and Helen. After a while, Peter came back to himself. Bruce had a long discussion with Tony about dissociation.
Now it was a normal thing, even though neither wished it was. Peter was standing on the ceiling this time. The first time Tony ever saw the kid do this almost gave him a heart attack. So, finding the boy unresponsive on the ceiling at 2am was a whole other attack.
Tony’s heart tried to leap past the bars of his ribcage, “Shit, Kid, don’t do that!” Peter didn’t turn to him or show any sign he heard the man at all. “Peter?”
He walked up to the Star Wars PJ clad teen and around. There was Peter, upside down, staring blankly ahead. Tony was super worried that the kid could fall at any moment. He knew because of the boy’s spider powers it was unlikely, but Tony’s nerves weren’t listening to logic. So, Tony decided to sit down on the floor in front of Peter, legs straight out in front of him. This way he could see Peter face and his legs would break the boy’s fall if the unlikely ever happens. Glad he had sweats on rather than his normal suit pants, a softer landing.
“Hey kid,” Tony starts with a small worried smile. “As usual, not sure if you can hear me, but just in case I'm going to talk your ear off.” It’s quiet for a beat before he continues, “If you can hear me,” He looks into the kid’s dull eyes, “follow my voice Pete.” He takes a breath, momentarily regretting not grabbing a glass of water. It sometimes takes the kid a long time to come back. He shakes this out of his thoughts, those extra few minutes could possibly be much worse for Peter than for Tony’s slightly dry throat. The boy locked away somewhere in his mind, subconscious tormenting him.
“Ever told you the story of Rhodey and I sneaking into the MIT robotics lab to make our own robot while we were drunk off our asses?” Tony asks rhetorically, although he has a sliver of hope. No reply. His smile falters slightly, “Well, I might have, but I’m not sure if you’d remember. Doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head, “It was sophomore year. We had just gotten back from a party, as usual, I was picked on for my age and had way too much to drink. Rhodey rode in on his stallion of righteousness and dragged me out.” He rolled his eyes playfully, “We ended up drinking in our dorm. Rhodey only did so when it became clear he wasn’t going to be able to stop me from drinking. Well, the way he put it was that my stubbornness was quite contagious in college.” He chuckled at his best friend’s antics.
“Anyway,” Tony takes a breath, “once we were both under the influence I had the amazing idea to make something. By the way, do not create when you’re drunk, it's dangerous.” He says seriously, “Actually don’t drink at all, okay?” No reply. Tony sighed, “We can have that conversation later. So, we snuck into the robotics lab at two in the morning and erased any proof of our attendance there.” He stated, “The rest of the night gets a bit more fuzzy as we were still drinking.” He stops and then says, “Oh yeah, new rule, no alcohol near electronics or any drinks without a tight top.” Again Peter did not give any type of response, “I should write down all these rules so I don’t forget.” He thought out loud, “Sorry, I got off topic, right, so beer + electronics = disaster. Remember that.” He said to the catatonic teen. “When we were building the robot we named Bud, which may or may not have been after Budweiser, I may have spilled some of its namesake on its circuit board.” Tony said as he rested his weight on his arms behind him, “You like fireworks?” He asked, Peter did not reply, “Well Rhodey and I got a private show that night. Sparks everywhere.” He laughed.
“I guess this is where you would ask what we did.” He said looking at the boy, “Well, we ran.” He laughed again, “We erased any record that we were there, deleted the security footage, all while we were still drunk I might add, and ran for our dorm.” He shook his head both amused and slightly horrified with himself, “To this day they don’t know it was us. Well, some people were suspicious, but they had no evidence.”
He looks at Peter, who has still not moved a bit, “What was my point?” Tony asked the air, “I feel like I should have a point for telling that story.” He thought for a moment, “Oh, right, don’t drink.”
Peter started to blink a bit more and very slowly shook his head, “Mr. Stark?” He asked when seeing him.
“Hey Pete,” The man smiled.
“Why are you lecturing me right now?” He asked sleepily.
Tony kept smiling softly, but didn’t answer, instead he asked, “Hey kiddo, mind getting down from there for me?” Peter looks around like he’s trying to figure out what Tony is talking about.
Then he realizes, “Oh,” he flips down avoiding Tony’s legs but still triggering his heart, and lands, “sorry.”
Tony catches his breath, still sitting on the floor, “It’s fine, I’ve only had two heart attacks today, that’s not even a record for me.”
Peter smiles and puts his hand out, Tony takes it and lets the boy help him to his feet. Tony then uses Peter’s grasp and pulls him into a hug. “You okay?” he asks, arms wrapped around him.
Peter hugs back seeking comfort, “Yeah, thanks.”
Not quite ready to let go yet Tony asks, “You need to talk about anything?”
Peter smiles, “No, it’s okay, it can wait till later.” The boy yawns, “I’m tired now.” he says mid yawn.
Tony laughs and brakes away, “Okay, go get some rest.”
Peter gives a small nod and smile and goes to his room. The worry in Tony has not been extinguished, but it has dimmed quite a bit. He will talk with the kid once he gets some sleep. For now Tony can only hope that somehow his voice helped Peter find his way back.