It’s been three weeks since the kid has even touched the suit. Friday sends him a report showing the inactivity for every one. Each week Tony gets more and more nervous about it.
What’s wrong? What has he been doing for three weeks? Is he okay?
As he thinks about it Tony gets more and more angry. This is the kids responsibility! He has this suit for a reason! He shouldn’t be slacking off like this! As he sits there brooding, Tony quickly picks up his phone and calls Happy. He picks up after two rings.
“Hey Tony, what’s up?” He answers quickly.
“Hey Hap? Could you tell me what the hell is going on with the kid? He hasn’t touched his suit in weeks. What is he doing?!” Tony is practically yelling by the end of his sentence.
“Look Tony I’m sure the kid’s just busy with school work or something. You know how much he loves being spider-man! Why would he just give up on it?”
“Whatever, he committed to this when I gave him that suit. He needs to at least tell me what he's doing! Whatever I’ll just call his aunt.”
“Tony just wa-” Tony quickly hangs up to start calling May.
“Hi this is May! If I don’t answer I’m probably at work! Leave a message and I’ll call you when I can!”
“Damnit! Whatever! Friday? Get me a ride over to Queens, I need to talk to the kid.”
On the car ride there Tony gets more and more angry with Peter. He knows that Spider-man is important. If Peter can’t handle it then maybe he shouldn’t have the suit. He feels just like he did after the ferry incident. Peter couldn’t stop being spider-man then and now he just up and quits! By the time that the driver drops him off in front of Peter’s apartment building Tony is furious with the kid. He’s probably been slacking off for three weeks! Tony angrily gets into the elevator, sending the kid a quick and angry text.
I’m coming over. Now.
Tony feels the phone buzz in his hand but doesn’t care enough to even look at it. He stomps out the elevator arriving at the apartment door. He knocks, leaning his ear against the door he can hear shuffling and a minute later the door opens.
Peter stands in front of the door. His hair is tangled and greasy, probably not being washed at least a week. He’s wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt that is way too big for him. Draped over his back is a large blanket. As he opens the door Peter looks surprised, his eyes widening as he realizes who it is.
“M-mr Stark?” He mutters “What- why are you here? Is something going on?” Peter gets nervous even thinking about if something bad enough warrants a mission.
“No kid, I’m trying to figure out why the hell spider-man has been gone for three whole weeks! This is your responsibility, you can’t just give up because you want to laze around all day!”, Tony is yelling at this point. Throwing his hands up and gesturing around with anger.
Quickly as his anger slows. After yelling he notices Peter, really notices him. He notices the way the kid was covering his ears when Tony yelled. The large dark bags laying under his eyes. His terrible looking appearance. The heavy weight on his shoulders. And the tiredness in his face.
“I-I’m sorry Mr.Stark I um. Here sorry why don’t you come in and sit down.” Peter says, gesturing inside the apartment. Tony slowly walks in looking around. All the lights are off and the curtains are drawn everywhere. A pile of dirty dishes sits in the sink and many more on the coffee table. Tony peers over into Peter’s room only to see a worse mess. His whole floor is covered in clothes and so is his bed.
Tony looks over to Peter only to see him desperately trying to clean up the mess he’s left.
“I’m so sorry Mr.Stark, it is such a mess in here. This is my fault I haven’t had- I didn’t clean up. Sorry.” Peter nervously stumbles, moving over a pile of blankets on the couch.
Tony still feels a little shocked. What is going on with Peter?
“Peter, what is going on with you? Are you okay kid?” Tony looks at the kid, whose eyes go wide for a moment.
“Umm I-” The kid looks down while nervously picking at his lip. “I- um, sometimes I go through like waves of stuff. Like I get really unmotivated and stuff and I can’t really do anything productive. I’m sorry that sounds so dumb. May says it’s probably like depression or something? I don’t really know how to describe it. Um so that’s why I haven’t been going out in the suit or anything. I’m really sorry Mr.Stark I-I know that probably sounds like an excuse I’m just making up or something. I can start getting back in the suit again. I’m so sorry I let you down.”, Peter’s voice quietly breaks at the end before he looks back down again, afraid of Tony's reaction.
Tony sits in shocked silence for a moment. How did he not know about this? He felt a large tidal wave of guilt wash over him, pushing away any previous left anger. He was mad at the kid for being depressed? He didn’t even know! How could he have?
“Peter...why didn’t you say anything. I wouldn’t have been so mad at you if you had just told me! I’m here to help you!” , Peter fidgets anxiously with the end of his blanket.
“I don’t know I just-. It’s really embarrassing. I guess. Like I feel embarrassed. I mean look at me! I haven’t even had the motivation to shower in three days! That’s so embarrassing! I just don’t want you to think I’m lazy or something…”, Peter’s eyes water as he quickly crosses his arms and looks down trying to hide it. “It’ll get better. I just need to try to get more motivated I guess? I’ll be back to spider-man soon okay? I know that’s what you care about” Peter snips angrily and gets up to walk towards the kitchen.
Tony steps in front of Peter and blocks him.
“That’s not fair, kid. I care about you so much. And I know you’re not lazy. You work so hard all the time! Just- just tell me when you’re going through stuff like this. I care about you. Peter. Not just Spider-man. I want you to be okay! I will always support you, okay kid?”, Peter's anger falls away as his shoulders fall. To Tony’s shock Peter quickly runs into him in a hug.
“Thank you Mr.Stark.”