Chapter 9
Tony was trying not to spiral himself. Walking in on Ned freaking out about Peter having a panic attack wasn’t helping none of the them so he told the kid to go find Happy to take him home. He seemed more than willing to leave that room because the poor kid was crying and was at a loss on what to do to help Peter.
Tony was getting worried about Peter because by the time he calmed him down, his lips were a shade of blue but were fading the more his breathing became normal. This was definitely a bad one and wanted to know what brought it on, not that it took much these days, but he knew now was not the time to ask.
Once Peter was finally relaxed and breathing normally again, he dozed off like he does sometimes. Him having experience in anxiety attacks, he knows how much it could take out of you so he sat in the chair and held his hand until he woke up again. He was pissed at himself for leaving in the first place.
“Dad?”
Tony turned and smiled when he saw that Peter was awake. He came over and sat on the bed again, never letting go of his hand. “Hey kiddo, how are you feeling now?”
Peter cleared his throat. “Better. I’m sorry abo—
“Nope, no apologizing remember? Does your head hurt? Do you remember what happened?” Tony asked while studying his son knowing if he’d lie to him.
Peter just shrugged and for once he couldn’t get a read on him. He knew Peter’s been through a lot these past weeks, especially the last twenty-four hours. Peter cleared his throat again. “I feel ok. Just a small headache. Um, where’s Ned?”
“You need some water, kiddo,” he said as he got up to get him a cup and then handed it over watching him gulp it down. “Hey, slow sips and after you drink that you need to eat something. It’s already ten in the morning.”
He saw Peter’s face deflate even more. “I’m not hungry, maybe later.” He mumbled but Tony wasn’t having it. He knew he had to get him to eat even though he just woke up. He was already losing weight and now that he’s in that gown he could see it since he wears baggy clothes all the time hiding behind them.
“It wasn’t a suggestion, you are going to eat something because I know you’ve been skipping meals and lost weight. Helen was here not too long ago and I signed the discharge papers so once you’re up for leaving, we’ll head home and I’m making you brunch.” Tony said in a fatherly voice with no room to argue.
Peter didn’t look like he processed what he just said. The kid was still half a sleep or the drugs were wearing off or flat out ignored what he just told him. “Where’s Ned? He was just here when…”
Tony sat on the bed again. “Yea, so I came back just in time to see you in the middle of a panic attack and Ned freaking out because he didn’t know what to do, so I sent him home with a promise you’d call him later. He’s never seen you like that, hurt or having an attack that bad so it shook him up a little. Talk about being hurt, do you remember what happened to you?” He saw Peter’s cheeks turn bright pink and he felt bad for him knowing all the shit he went through last night. He knew he must be embarrassed.
“Ned said he found me in a shed? I um, don’t remember how I got there though, and I swear I didn’t drink!” Peter said frantically and Tony was glad he was telling the truth so far. What Peter didn’t know was that Tony knew EVERYTHING now.
“I believe you didn’t drink, but Pete, listen, I have a lot to talk to you about because a lot of shit when down last night. I need you to know that I know.”
“Yea, I know, Ned told me he told you everything and I’m pissed at him for doing that. That’s what um, made me have that panic attack. I didn’t want you to find out. I give you enough trouble as it is and that’s the last thing I wanted was for you to know. I can’t believe he told you!” he said with heat behind his voice.
Tony sighed and looked him directly in the eyes. “Pete, you know you’re not trouble and I’m so glad Ned ended up telling me. I can’t tell you how to feel but please don’t be mad at him. He did it to help you. But when I say I know everything, I mean everything. That’s what I need to talk to you about. I saw the security camera footage from the house party you were at and saw it all, kiddo. We couldn’t figure out why the hell you’d let those assholes do that to you and - - ”
He noticed Peter started panicking again and started tearing up. “Dad, it wasn’t like that, I can explain! It was just a game!”
He felt so bad for his kid just imagining how humiliated he must feel right now and he wanted to take it all away. “Pete, it was exactly like how it looked and I doubt very highly it was a game. And as I said before, I know everything –”
“No, you don’t! You think you do but you only know the half of it!” Peter started shouting. He could tell he was getting defensive but didn’t know why he’d be defending those bastards.
“I know more than you think I do, kiddo. I had the pleasure of sitting at the police station for hours with those three jerks. That’s why I wasn’t here when you first woke up. We pressed charges and thankfully Kevin Myers and Jason Bell are 18 so they will be charged as adults. We have all the evidence and proof we need so I’m sure it won’t go to trial.”
Peter’s eyes got so big. “You what? You got them arrested? For what? Dad, you have no idea what you just did! I can’t believe you did that! Oh my god! I need a phone! Where’s my phone? Oh my god!” he shouted.
“Why do you need a phone?” Tony asked confused trying to keep Peter from hopping off the bed.
“I have to check something, please, now! I need a phone or a Starkpad or something!!” Peter said frantically but he got up off the bed anyway. Thankfully he wasn’t hooked up to anything anymore.
“Is it because you need to check to see if the adoption papers got leaked online?” Tony said smugly crossing his arms.
That stopped Peter in his tracks and he slowly turned around, “Wait, w-what? H-how d-do you – how?” Peter was stuttering so bad he made him stop talking when he raised his hand to him.
“Pete, I said I knew everything and I meant everything. I actually know more than you so if you sit back down, I’ll tell you what happened to you last night. You can finally stop worrying about him blackmailing you because I took care of it.” Peter slowly sat down on the bed staring at him with watery eyes but not blinking like he was in shock. Tony was hoping that what he had to tell him will finally put him at ease and his life could go back to normal again.
“For starters, I’m pressing charges for aggravated assault, blackmail and drugging you. That’s how you ended up in the shed, Peter. They fucking drugged you after that kid through a rock at your head and knocked you out cold. When I got there, Friday said you were in an altered state so I had Helen run a drug test and it came back positive for Rohypnol. I’m sorry to say it, but you were roofied last night, kid.” He watched as his son tried to process what he just told him and he looked dumbfounded but he was quiet and couldn’t blame him. Being told you were unwillingly drugged would shock just about anyone.
Tony continued, “After we watched the footage and what they did to you, Pep and I called the police. So last night I went down to the station after they arrested them. I asked to have five minutes alone with Flash - which is a stupid name and it pains me to even say it out loud by the way. I walked into the interrogation room and when he saw me it looked like he was about to shit his pants. I sat down and didn’t even have to suit up which I was going to do if he wouldn’t talk. He was so scared of me that he sung like a canary and confessed everything without me even asking. He told me about how he was blackmailing you into doing all those shitty things because he had a copy of your adoption papers. When I found out what he had over you, I had Friday wipe all the contents off his phone, computer and everywhere else those docs were located and in his family’s home. I made sure they were never printed which they weren’t. I also found out how he obtained them.”
Peter was sitting on the bed just staring at nothing and not saying a word. He was hoping this all wasn’t too much and he wasn’t disassociating again. “Pete? You doing, ok, bud?” He asked as he wrapped an arm around him and squeezed his shoulder and thankfully Peter snapped out of it a little. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
Peter finally made eye contact and he couldn’t tell what he was feeling which was odd since he usually could. He blinked a few times and wiped the tears off his face. “Um, yea. I heard you, it’s just a lot to process. I can’t believe you know everything and then got them arrested. I, I don’t know how to feel about all that. I guess they deserve it because of what they did to me, especially the drugging me part which I’m freaking out about but now their lives are ruined and it’s all my fau-“
Tony was beginning to see red and had to stand up because of course Peter would blame himself. “Don’t you dare say it’s your fault, Peter,” he yelled with a stern voice which made Peter shrink back a little and he regretted raising his voice but he had to get through to him. “What part of any of this is your fault? You are the victim in all of this, you hear me? You were blackmailed which is a crime. You were drugged against your will and assaulted, Peter. Actions have consequences and they are paying the price for their actions, end of story. None of this is your fault, got it? I want you say it,” Tony demanded pointing a finger at him.
Peter sat there staring at the floor and not at him anymore. He knows Peter has low self esteem but come on! There’s nothing for him to blame himself for this time, absolutely nothing! “Pete? Can you please look at me?” he asked with a gentler tone.
Peter finally looked up meeting his eyes and he was crying. “I’m s-sorry. I just feel bad for some reason,” he said sniffling and shrugging. “I don’t know why but I just do.”
Tony sat next to him on the bed again and put an arm around him to give him a side hug. “I know you do bud, it’s who you are. You have such a big heart but this, you gotta let this go, ok? None of this is on you. Let’s say if you found out they did this to someone else, like Ned and not you, how would you feel then? Would you still feel bad for them or think they deserved what they got?”
He let Peter sit with that for a minute since he didn’t answer right away. He shrugged again, “I mean, when you put it like that, yea, if they did it to someone else I’d want them to get in trouble but it wasn’t someone else, it was me.”
Tony sighed again and tried not to get frustrated. He could tell Peter’s negative voices were back or he wouldn’t be blaming himself like this. He was way worse than he thought and knew he wasn’t thinking straight right now since he was mentally unstable because he was thinking irrationally. He was sliding backwards again and he was scared for his son.
“I don’t want you to blame yourself or feel bad because they got what they deserved, especially Flash. We’ll have to work on that, ok? Which brings me to something else we need to talk about.”
He could tell Peter seemed confused so Tony nodded towards his bare arm and held it in his hand and flipped it over running his hand down the faded scars. The millisecond it registered for Peter, he immediately took his arm back and crossed them hugging himself. Then he stood up looking scared, panicked and ashamed.
“Dad, I can explain, this isn’t –”
“Wait, are you going to stand there and tell me it’s not what it looks like? Pete, we both know what they are so stop lying to me. Do you do it at school because Friday said she never detected any blood in your room. Talk to me, please,” he begged. He felt for his son, he didn’t want him in anymore pain, physically or mentally.
Peter slowly nodded. “Y-yes, but you know it’s out of my control sometimes. I don’t mean to do it, it’s an impulse. It’s how I’ve been dealing with all this stress,” he admitted.
Tony shook his head. He wasn’t buying it and he had to be tough to get through to him again. “You can’t tell me it’s an impulse when you plan on doing it during school. I found a couple blades in your backpack, Peter. Which means you either stole them from my bathroom or went out to buy some. That’s premeditated. And I’m sure you do it the same time and place every day at school, right? Like say… your lunch period because I know you’re not eating lunch or after school somewhere while you’re pretending to be at decathlon practice before Happy picks you up?” Peter looked surprised to hear that he knew about all that. “Yea, kid. I know it all, and you need help again. Starting tomorrow. I already called your therapist and he’s coming over for an emergency session. We’ll set up a schedule from there but I want you going at least three times a week again or if he thinks you need it, then more.”
He saw the panicked look in Peter’s eyes and it broke his heart. “Please, Dad, I’m sorry. I don’t need all that therapy. I can get better on my own, I promise, I...” Then Peter started shaking and crying and it looked like his knees were about to give out so Tony went over to him and hugged him while Peter cried on his shoulder saying how sorry he was. He rubbed his back for a little while and then he ushered him over to sit back down on the bed, keeping an arm around him.
“Shhh.shhh…take it easy before you get worked up again, ok?” Tony said while rubbing a hand up and down his arm. “This isn’t a negotiation. You’re sliding back into your old bad coping mechanisms again and it’s taking a toll on you physically and mentally. That blackmail really did a number on you. We need to nip this in the bud before it gets any worse. You made such great progress before and I know you can get it back. You just have to work hard, I have faith in you, kid,” Tony said as he was getting choked up and kissed the side of his head.
“God, everything is such a nightmare right now! You weren’t supposed to find out about this,” he said holding up his arm, “or any of that other stuff! They were my secrets to keep and now, it’s all out there in the open and everything is such a freaking mess! Fuck, I feel so embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I’m so sorry, Dad.” Peter said in between sniffles.
Tony let the swear slip because he was sure Peter didn’t need a lecture on language right now. Tony sat facing him to pull him in for a full hug and when he pulled away he wiped Peter’s tears. “Secrets make you sick, Pete. They eat you up from the inside out. Look what it’s doing to you.”
“I know, I know but I had to keep everything a secret or else… Are you sure there’s no way for Flash to post those documents or anyone else for that matter?”
Then it hit Tony and he had to ask. “Is that why you asked me about the adoption and why it was sealed?” he asked and Peter nodded. “God, Pete. I’m so sorry I put all that fear in you. If you just talked to me and told me what was going on when it first happened, I could have solved the problem in like fifteen minutes. You know I’m a tech genius with unlimited resources and I could have wiped his phone clean in a second and any other traces. Why didn’t you just come to me?”
Peter sniffled some more. “I was too scared. He said if I told anyone that he’d post them and I knew he wasn’t bluffing and I thought that meant you, too. I thought he’d know somehow if I told you before you got a chance to do anything about it. It wouldn’t bother me so much if it did get out. I think after a while I’d be able to handle it but what I couldn’t handle was my friend’s lives getting destroyed all because they know me. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if their privacy got taken away because of me.”
Tony pulled him in closer again. His kid was so selfless it sometimes makes him upset that he never thinks of himself. “Peter, you and your big heart,” Tony whispered while shaking his head. “I took care of it, it’s all over with. There’s no traces of it on his phone, computer or even his family’s. He only had the one copy so you don’t have to worry about that ever again, ok, kiddo?”
“But how did he get them in the first place? If he got a hold of them, can’t anyone else?” Peter asked wiping his face again.
“Ahh, I didn’t get around to that part yet. Turns out Flash’s father works in the same law office as my lawyers, just a different firm in the building. Thompson’s a common last name and I never talked to the guy so I never put two and two together that it was his dad. His father had the document opened on his computer that was in his home office and that’s where Flash saw them and forwarded them to himself. His father wasn’t supposed to have it on his home computer, or have them at all, so right there is a breach of contract because every single person in that building signed an NDA, so he’ll be getting in trouble as well. Fired for sure and either a hefty fine or jail time since that was in the disclosure agreement – which he signed. I’m not even sure what he was planning on doing with them or why he had them in the first place. But that’s not your problem, Pete. That’s for me and my lawyers to figure out.”
“Great, more guilt! Now I got his dad fired! What will his family do now!” Peter said getting worked up again.
Tony sighed but tried not to, he couldn’t help it. Jesus this kid. “Pete, like I said, none of this is your fault, got it? He’s a grown ass man, he’s a fucking lawyer for Christ sakes and knows the law. He knew he shouldn’t have had those documents, especially out in the open like that. This is all on them. Please for the love god, let this one go, ok?”
Peter put his head on Tony’s shoulder but didn’t answer him. He just sniffled some more but he heard his stomach growl. Shit, they’ve been talking forever and he needs to make him something to eat. “How’s your head doing? I’m sure all this didn’t make it any better.”
“It hurts. Can we go home now? And then I can take some pain pills and go to sleep? I’m exhausted.” Peter said wiping the tears off his face that finally stopped.
“Yea, let’s go. There’s a change of clothes for you in the bathroom. Just a t shirt and sweatpants. I knew you wouldn’t want to walk out of here with a gown on.”
“Thanks.” And he watched him slowly get up as he made his way to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
When Peter was out of sight, Tony sighed and ran a hand down his face and through his hair and let out a deep breath. That was a hard discussion but everything needed to be said. He knew he was harsh at times but he really had to get through to him somehow.
Man, what a fucking night he thought. It started with Ned’s phone call and it’s not even over yet. He spent hours at the police station with Pepper and their lawyers getting everything squared away to make sure those charges won’t get dropped. Nobody fucks with his kid, nobody.
Now he has to deal with the aftermath and what effects it had on Peter. His son needed help and he wasn’t sure he could do it on his own. Peter was in trouble and he didn’t think his son even realizes how far gone he’s become.