Unwanted
It was a month after Peter had met the Avengers that his mom picked him up from school. She was waiting for him in front of his school in her usual black car, and he almost didn't hesitate. It was like first grade...like climbing into her car after his first day of school only for her to smile at him and ruffle his hair and ask how school had been. On other days, her assistant would pick him up, but on that day it had been her.
On this day, it was her.
He knew that Happy was supposed to pick him up, but his mom rolled down the window and smiled at him, giving him a little wave. "Hey, baby. Your dad said I could pick you up from school today. I thought we could stop and get some ice cream."
Peter hesitated, hands gripping his backpack straps. Happy was supposed to pick him up. He wasn't supposed to go with strangers. Ever. But this wasn't a stranger. It was his mom. And she wanted to take him out for ice cream! "Dad said it was okay?" He clarified.
"Yeah. Come on, Peter. Get in the car." There was just a little steel in her voice...just enough of the sharpness to get him moving, and he hurried to slide into the passenger seat, backpack between his knees on the floor. She put the car in drive, pulling away from his school, and then they were in the opposite direction of the tower.
"Where are we going?" He asked, trying not to sound worried. This was his mom. He didn't have to be scared. Maybe she had missed him, he thought as he stared at the city through the window, catching glances of his mom only when he dared to turn around for too long. He wouldn't make her angry, he told himself sharply. He would control his power and he wouldn't stick to her and he wouldn't ask too many questions.
"To get ice cream. How was school?"
"Oh. Um, it was good. Ned, uh, he's my best friend, almost got us in trouble because we were talking about the new Star Wars and he was saying that…" He glanced over at her, closing his mouth when he realized she wasn't listening. Instead, she had pulled to a stop at a red light, and was texting someone.
She hadn't always been like this. Before she'd started working so much, she'd been different. She'd wanted to spend time with him. They'd spent hours talking on Saturdays when she'd take him to the library and sometimes to the movies. She'd read him stories before bed...she'd stopped right in the middle of The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. He still didn't know how it ended...if they ever beat the white witch. She'd bought him all the Star Wars movies, and his room at their old home had had a big Star Wars poster.
Did she still live in the apartment that she'd told him had belonged to her boss, but that they rented? Did she still have his Star Wars movies and his poster and the stuffed bear she'd gotten him one day when they'd been spending a whole day together, just the two of them?
"Mom?" He flinched when the person behind them honked their horn, and she swore under her breath, hitting one more button on the phone before hitting the gas.
They got ice cream to go from the drive through, his mom getting a chocolate dipped cone and him getting a banana split. He ate it silently as she drove through the city, finally getting on the big interstate, and that's when he got scared.
"Mom?"
"You know that I love you. Right, Peter?"
"Yeah…"
"And you know that I'd never let anyone hurt you?"
"Mom…"
"We're going away for a little while, okay? Just the two of us."
Peter shook his head, forgetting all about his ice cream that was no longer appetizing. "I want to go home."
"We're going to have a new home…"
"I want dad!"
She shook her head, speeding up as they drove along the interstate, and in the distance he could just make out his dad's tower. His home. His real home.
"Peter, I know you don't understand this right now, but your dad took you away from me. And that was wrong of him. I needed him to keep you for just a little while to keep you safe, but he wouldn't let me have you back. He didn't want you when you were a baby, Peter. Why do you think he never came to see you?"
"He...he said that he didn't know about me." Peter's voice was small as he felt tears build in his eyes. His dad loved him. He loved him more than anything and his mom had to be wrong.
"Baby, you know your father. Do you really think there's anything he doesn't know?"
Peter didn't think she meant the words to be comforting, but they were. His dad knew everything. He would find him. His dad would never let her take him. Never. He would find Peter and they could go home!
It was dark when they stopped at a hotel, and Peter's stomach was growling. His mom didn't seem to notice, hurrying him inside of the hotel while tapping at her phone. She stopped at the front desk, paying the old lady before leading Peter to a room on the top floor.
The clock told him it was nearly 8, and he hadn't had any real food since lunch. "Where are we going?" He asked his mom while she placed a suitcase she'd pulled out of her trunk onto one of the full sized beds.
"I told you, we're going on a trip. I've got our passports...I was thinking France. I'm sure you'll pick up the language in no time." She looked at him then with a smile he remembered. One that had always meant she loved him. Dropping the lid of the suitcase, she moved around to his bed, cupping his cheek in her palms. "I love you, baby. That's why I'm doing this. We can have a fresh start. Just you and me, like it always was. No more long work trips. We can go to the Eiffel Tower. And the Louvre...there are so many places to see in France. You're going to love it."
He forced himself to smile, fighting back the tears that he knew would make her angry. "Can we have dinner?" he asked, feeling as though he were talking to a stranger. She nodded, brushing his hair back and kissing his head.
"Of course, baby."
That night, they watched a movie with him right at her side, her arm around him, and he was sure to keep his hands away from her so he didn't accidentally stick. As soon as the movie was over, he crept over into his own bed, waiting until almost 2 in the morning before he crawled out the window.
The window opened with a soft hiss, and he looked back at her, and at his backpack beside the bed. He didn't dare grab it. She slept soundly, curled up on her side, the blankets covering her, and he crawled down the side of the building, hitting the grass outside with a soft thump before he was running.
He knew which direction they'd come from, so he ran that way as fast as he could, climbing onto the tops of apartment buildings and houses and jumping from roof to roof, scanning the skies for his dad's suit. They'd been driving for hours, but he just wanted to put distance between him and his mom. Tears streamed down his face in the cold air, and his bare feet felt frozen, but that didn't matter. He wanted to go home! He wanted his dad!
It had to have been almost an hour since he'd left the hotel, and he crawled down from the building he'd been on, scanning the empty streets before trying to find a convenience store or a gas station. Both were open late, he knew. If he could find a police officer, he thought, that would be even better.
The streets were mostly deserted, with the occasional car driving by. No one seemed to pay him any mind though. It didn't matter...he was cold, and he was so scared, flinching away from every person he saw. He still remembered the man who had tried to take him when he'd first lived with his dad. What if someone else tried to take him?
The gas station he finally spotted was well lit, and he shivered as he went inside. There was a man behind the counter looking at his phone, and he thought about leaving to find a gas station with a lady working there, but he was too cold and too tired and too scared. So he approached the counter and gathered up every ounce of courage he had. His dad was a superhero. He could be brave too.
"Excuse me? Sir?"
The man looked down at him, eyes widening as he took him in. "Hey, kid. You okay?"
"I'm...I'm supposed to be with my dad but...but I don't know...where I am…". Peter had to swallow tears, but he managed. "Can I use the phone please?"
"Um...you need me to call the police, kid?"
"I just want to call my dad. Please."
The cashier hesitated, then nodded, handing Peter his cellphone. "Alright. Don't run off with the phone though."
Peter dialed the one phone number he'd been told to memorize and prayed that his dad hadn't gone to bed already. It rang twice before his familiar voice answered with a hesitant 'hello' and Peter felt himself break.
"Daddy?"
"Peter! Oh god...where are you? Are you okay?"
"I want to come home...please…"
"Of course. I've been looking everywhere...Peter...baby, are you hurt?"
"No. She was going to take me away. She wants to go to France."
"You're not going anywhere baby. I'm on my way with Uncle Rhodey. Can you tell me where you are?"
"I don't know!" Peter sobbed, barely able to speak through his tears. "I ran...ran away when she was...asleep...and...and now I'm cold…"
"Okay. It's okay, Pete. Whose phone are you using?"
"The man...man at the...the gas station…". Peter sobbed.
"Can I talk to him?"
Peter held up the phone, wiping his eyes. "Will you...talk to my...my dad?" he whispered. The man nodded, taking the phone, and Peter closed his eyes, trying to calm down and listen to the conversation while still keeping an eye on the door, sure his mother would come in and take him away at any moment.
"Hello?"
"I'm Tony. Peter is my son."
"Hi. I'm Jo...uh...he just came into the gas station. In Buffalo. I think he's okay…"
"His mother kidnapped him...she was trying to take him out of the country. Can you keep him there until I get there. I'll only be about two hours."
"Yeah...sure, man. You want me to call the cops?"
"No. I'll take care of it. I'm on my way. Can I get your address?"
Jo led Peter to what he called the break room. After giving him a bottle of water and a bag of cookies, he headed back to the front of the store, and Peter curled up on the sofa, arms wrapped around himself, praying that his mom didn't find him. That she was still asleep at the hotel and that she'd forget all about him. It would be better than this. Better than worrying that she was going to take him. Worrying that he would make her angry by not calling her and worry that she wanted him and worrying that she didn't.
He heard his dad's suit an hour and a half later, and he burst out of the break room to find the Iron Man and War Machine suits outside of the gas station, Jo staring wide-eyed as his father stepped into the store.
"Daddy!" Peter screamed, racing into his open arms and not caring that he was too old to call his dad that and too old to be picked up. His dad picked him up anyway, burying his face in Peter's hair.
"Peter, Peter, Peter…" His father whispered his name over and over, squeezing him tightly and kissing his hair. His uncle Rhodey stepped closer, placing a hand on his back.
"Pete, you okay?" he asked, sounding serious and almost afraid, and Peter nodded. He was okay. He was scared but he was okay. He just wanted to go home.
"You're okay?" His dad pulled away just a little with red-rimmed eyes, placing his hand on Peter's cheek. He nodded. "Okay...okay…" He looked around the empty gas station, pressing his hand to Peter's hair, his head resting against his dad's shoulder. "Rhodey...can you take him? Just for a second? I need to…"
"Yeah." Uncle Rhodey reached out, pulling him into his own arms, and Peter wrapped his arms around him, sticking to his back. "Can we use…" Rhodey must have gestured, and Jo said something...and then he and Uncle Rhodey were in the break room where Peter had been sitting on the couch for two hours, half dozing and doing his best to stay awake to see his dad. Rhodey sat on that same sofa, holding Peter in his lap and patting him on the back. "Pete?'
Peter looked up at him, not wanting to lift his head from his shoulder. Not wanting to unstick. Uncle Rhodey was safe. He would keep him safe. If his mom found him, Uncle Rhodey wouldn't let her take him.
"Can you tell me what happened?" He dropped his eyes, but his uncle squeezed his shoulder. "You're not in trouble. I promise. We just need to know what happened. Your dad is calling the police and they're going to make sure nothing like this happens again. We're going to rent a car to get you home."
"Can we go in the suits?" Peter asked, and Rhodey chuckled.
"Maybe someday, buddy. But not today." He ruffled Peter's hair. "Alright, buddy. What happened?"
Peter bit his lip, but told Rhodey everything, from his mom showing up to pick him up to the ice cream to her plans to go to France. "So I waited until she was asleep and I climbed out the window. I know I shouldn't have but…"
His uncle shook his head. "No, kiddo, you did great. You did the right thing." He pulled Peter close, patting him on the back. "It would have been really hard for us to find you if you'd gone out of the country with her."
"Uncle Rhodey?"
"Yeah?"
"If she doesn't want me, why did she try to take me away?"
His uncle sighed, squeezing him and kissing the top of his head. For a moment, he just held him. "I don't know, buddy. I really don't."
"She said that Dad didn't want me...that he didn't want me when I was little."
"He didn't know about you, Peter. You know that."
"She said that he knew about everything."
Rhodey pulled away a little, hands on Peter's shoulders. "Your dad did not know about you. I promise. Because if he had, he would have wanted to know you. He had a rough time of it for a while, but he loves you more than anything in the world. I've never known him to love anyone like he loves you, and I've known your dad for a really long time. When you didn't come home from school, he was so scared." Rhodey brushed some of his hair back and kissed his forehead. "I love you too. You know that, right?"
Peter nodded, smiling a little. "I love you too."
When his dad came back to the room, it was to pull Peter back into his own arms, pressing a kiss to his hair. "Okay...alright, buddy. We're going to get you home, okay?" Peter nodded. "Let's get you some shoes first, okay?"
It turned out the gas station didn't sell shoes, so Rhodey disappeared for a moment, then returned with a packet of socks and some slip on-shoes. His father barely let him go for long enough to put the shoes on, and when Rhodey pulled up in the rented car, his dad sat in the back seat with him, practically holding him in his lap all the way back home. And, finally knowing he was safe, Peter fell asleep almost immediately.
Thank you for reading!!