Chapter 4
Tony woke up to FRIDAYS voice.
“Boss Peter appears to be having a nightmare”
Tony groaned and rolled to the side of his bed. He was actually having a really good sleep which was really rare but he wasn’t mad because Peter needed him.
Tony put his legs on the side of the bed to stand up and he saw the clock that read 3:22am, well at least he slept for a few hours, that’ll have to do for today.
He raced to Peters room and opened the door without knocking. He walked in and he saw Peter curled into a ball on the bed who was whimpering into his pillow. As he got closer to Peter he realized that his index finger was in his mouth and it looked like he was biting down on it hard.
“Peter, come on buddy. Open your eyes for me, it’s just a bad dream” Tony sat down on the bed and put his fingers in Peters hair. This seemed to relax him “Peter wake up” Tony patted Peters back and rubbed up and down trying to get him to wake up.
Peters eyes shot open and he sat up so fast he almost hit Tony in the head with his head. He had tears streaming down his cheeks and he was panting heavily.
“Hey hey. It’s okay Peter. It was just a nightmare, it’s okay” Tony patted Peters back again but the angle was kinda awkward so he put his hand down and just looked at Peter.
“No-no May. M-May, she’s gone Mays gone” Peter shook his head back and forth like he was trying to forget something.
“I know bud, but it’s okay. It’ll get better Peter. Do you want to tell me what the dream was about?” Tony looked at Peter and then peter looked up at his eyes for a second then shook his head back and forth really fast.
“Okay. That’s okay but you do need to talk about it eventually Peter”
“I k-know” Peter said quietly then hesitated before sitting up a bit straighter “can I- can I have a hug?”
Tony didn’t say anything but he reached over and grabbed Peter by the arms then dragged him onto his lap so that Peters head fell against his chest. He tighted his hold around Peters small frame, scared that he was gonna crush his bones. Wow, Peter was actually really light, he barely weighted anything on his lap, he should definitely have that tested.
“I’m sorry for waking you up” Peter said after a few minutes of crying. His crying seemed to calm down a little bit more as Tony put his hand in his hair again.
“It’s fine Peter, I don’t mind”
“I just- I miss May so much and I want her back” Peter began to cry some more and tony felt his shirt dampen once again, although he didn’t mind. “Why did she l-leave me?” Peter said with a broken sob.
“It was her time to go Peter. Her time here was done and now she’s in a better place” Tony didn’t so much believe in a heaven but he did believe that there was some sort of afterlife to go to.
“Well then I want to go too then” Peter said then seemed to regret it right after because he grabbed Tony’s shirt and fisted his hand in it.
Tony’s heart broke and he looked down at Peter and he opened his mouth to say something but his mouth went dry.
“Peter no. Don’t you ever say that again. Do you understand me” Tony tried not to sound so strict but he couldn’t help it.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t mean it Mr. Stark, I’m sorry” Peter cried harder and tried to move closer, if possible, into Tony more.
“I know Pete” Tony rubbed Peters back again then spoke again “Do you think you can go back to sleep-“
“No” Peter jumped a bit and grabbed Tony tighter.
“Okay then do you want to watch a movie” Tony and Peter used to watch movies a lot together once they got closer around each other. When they didn’t feel like working in the lab anymore or needed a break they would sit down on the couch with lots of junk food and watch movies together that always ended in Peter sleeping on his arm.
“No... I just, I’m tired but... im S-scared” Peter looked down at his lap.
“Why are you scared Peter”
“I’m scared because, because if I go to sleep again I’m gonna have a bad dream and then I’m gonna be all alone again and-and I don’t want to be a-alone”
“I’m always gonna be here Peter and as long as I’m here you’ll never be alone” Tony wrapped his arms around Peter some more. “It’s okay to be scared Peter”
“I-know. Thank you Mr. Stark” Peter laid his head down on Tony’s chest and took a deep breath then closed his eyes.
Tony put his arms under Peters legs to lift him but Peter opened his eyes and whined. Tony smiled down at Peter but kept moving him so that Peter was lying back in bed with his head against the pillow. Peter reached out for him and was gonna ask him to stay but he thought that he shouldn’t because that’s what babies do and he wasn’t a baby, he could sleep by himself.
Tony saw that Peter didn’t want him to leave but he decided to leave anyways because Peter didn’t ask him to stay and he didn’t really know if it was his place to ask Peter, it wasn’t like he was his dad or anything, he was just his mentor. And temporary guardian. He hated that word. Temporary.
He watched as Peter got back under the covers then he put his head down, eyes watching Tony the whole time. Tony waved bye to Peter then he walked out of his room and shut the door. He walked back to his room and crawled into bed and was asleep in a second.
The next day Tony woke up with a huge headache.
He groaned and stretched on the bed then he heard his phone start ringing. He thought it was the social worker or maybe the lady from the funeral home so he was gonna ignore it and call back later but he decided to check.
He leaned over and grabbed his phone and saw that it was Pepper calling. He loved Pepper. He always have loved her but he didn’t realize it yet so he let her get away. They tried dating before but it didn’t really work out, besides she deserves someone better. Someone who can actually be there all the time and someone she doesn’t have to actually babysit all the time.
He answered the phone not even bothering to sound awake.
“Hey Pep. What gives me the pleasure to talk to you at such an early time?”
“Tony. It’s 1:34 in the afternoon. Are you just waking up?”
Tony looked over at the nightstand clock. 1:34pm. Shit.
“No I’m-“ Tony was cut off by Pepper beginning to lecture him.
“Tony I’m calling to remind you of the meeting you have at 2:00 with the board to discuss sales. You told me you would be ready and that you would be on time-“
“Yes yes Pep I’m ready, I’m just getting ready to leave now” Tony jumped out of bed and ran into his closet to try and find a nice suit to wear, we’ll all of his suits were nice, but the closet one to him.
“Tony, I know you’re lying to me” Tony could practically see her head shaking. “Just be on time”
“Yes Ms. Potts. Is that all?” Tony tried not to sound out of breath as he was running around.
“That will be all Mr. Stark” Pepper hung up the phone and Tony couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips after.
Tony got dressed and ready in just under 20 minutes then he walked into the kitchen to make himself a coffee when he remembered Peter “oh shit” he quickly made his coffee then walked over to Peters room hoping the kid was still asleep.
He knocked on the door and then heard a soft ‘come in’ so he opened the door. Dammit kid was awake.
Peter was sitting on the edge of his bed staring at nothing in particular with his back to Tony.
“How long have you been up?” Tony asked as he rounded the bed to stand in front of Peter. Peter shrugged his shoulders and Tony could see the tear stains on his face.
“Well, I have to go to a meeting but I should be back in an hour or so” Peter looked up at him and seemed to have tears in his eyes. It broke Tony’s heart to see the kid like this but he really had to go to his meeting. “Will you be okay until I get back?”
Peter seemed to think for a moment then he shrugged his shoulders again.
“Call me if you need anything. I mean anything” Tony walked to the door then stopped and spoke one last time “understand me?”
Peter slowly nodded his head and didn’t say anything else so Tony left the room.
After Tony left Peter was feeling really lonely, even more so than before. Peter was actually alone right now, at least before Tony was a few rooms down from him at all times but now he didn’t know where he was or when he was gonna be back. What if he never came back just like aunt May. No. It hurt so much to even think her name. How can she be gone, she was just here. Peter came home from school and aunt May was there getting ready for her night shift. It was the beginning of October, October 7th to be exact. The day Peters life ended. It was a Friday night and usually May booked off Fridays to spend time with Peter but May had to go in this Friday because one of her coworkers called in sick, stupid person, if only they didn’t call in sick Peter would still have his aunt and he wouldn’t feel this broken and alone. It wasn’t fair, why is this happening to him, he was being punished for something. Everything good got taken away from Peter and it just wasn’t fair. He deserved to be happy too right, maybe not.
Peters head started to hurt him so he stood up feeling lightheaded, he walked into his bathroom and washed his face with cool water then looked up at himself in the mirror. He was really pale with dark under eye circles that had their own circles on them. His hair looked greesy even though he just washed it the night before. Or was it two nights ago? He didn’t even know what day it was. Peter walked out of the bathroom and lied down on his bed and shoved his face in his pillow. The bed was soft, it was probably really expensive. Mr. Stark would buy him something nice and expensive like this but he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve anything Mr. Stark was doing for him. But it didn’t matter because it’ll all be taken away from him sooner or later.
Peter decided that he shouldn’t get too comfortable living with Mr. Stark because it’ll all get taken away from him then he’ll have to go into a foster home until they kick him out too. He felt tears come to his eyes and he let them fall but this time he knew no one would be there to catch them.
The meeting was boring as hell but finally it was over. Tony barely listened the whole time instead he was more concentrated on what Peter might be doing.
After he got back to his private floor he thought he would find Peter on the couch or in the kitchen but he was no where. He walked to his room and stopped at the door when he heard crying coming from inside. He knocked on the door and put is ear to the door.
“Pete, I’m back. Can I come in?” He was about to turn the door handle when he heard Peter say something he was not expecting.
“No! Go away” Peter yelled through the door. Tony didn’t know what to do, should he just walk in and ignore Peter obviously not wanting him near him or should he just leave. He decided to try again.
“Peter please-“
“No! Leave me a-alone! Go away!” Peter yelled but he was choking on sobs.
Tony had no idea what to do because he’s never dealt with this before so he just decided to leave. If that’s what Peter wants then he’ll leave.
Tony walked down to the lab to try and take his mind off of things. He was down there for a few hours trying to improve his Ironman suit or just tinkering on random stuff in the lab. It was 7:18pm when he decided to try to talk to Peter again.
On his way up to his room he walked past the kitchen then saw the box with Peters clothes in it. He picked it up and walked down the hall to Peters room. “Peter?”
No answer.
He opened the door and saw Peter in his bed with his finger in his mouth again but he decided not to say anything about that right now.
“Your clothes came in, now you don’t have to wear that anymore” Tony placed the box on the end of the bed and started pulling stuff out of it. He pulled out a top with a science pun on it and held it against his chest.
“Are you sure you know your size kid? This looks a little small”
Peter didn’t even acknowledge him there but continued to bite his finger and stare at the wall. He had tear stains on his face but he wasn’t crying.
“Pete-“
“It’s fine. Thank you Mr. Stark” Peter took his finger out of his mouth and turned away from Tony.
“Peter please talk to me” Tony put the box and the ground and sat on the bed with the shirt still in his hand.
“No I-I don’t want to” peter pulled his legs up to his chest to curl into a ball. “Just leave me alone, I want to be a-alone” no don’t leave me, I don’t want to be alone.
“Alright fine. But just look at the clothes and change into them please” Tony sadly walked out and left Peter alone.
.
.
.
It was midnight and Tony couldn’t sleep. He normally doesn’t go to bed this early but he needed to get some sleep, especially with what he was gonna be dealing with with Peter the next day. He tossed and turned in bed until he finally fell asleep at one.
.
.
.
After Tony left his room Peter didn’t move at all. He continued to cry until he fell asleep. Peter knew he shouldn’t be so rude to Tony who was only trying to help but he had to be rude. Peter knew he was gonna get taken away and sent to a foster home because that’s what he deserved, as much as he wanted to stay with Tony he knew he couldn’t. He knew the man never wanted kids and Peter was just some stupid kid. Peter didn’t even look through the clothes that him and Tony ordered and instead he cried himself to sleep.
A few hours later Peter woke up to a nightmare. He woke up in a sweat and his sheets were all wet because he was sweating so much. Gross.
“Peter, it appears you are in distress. Would you like me to wake Boss for you?” FRIDAY asked.
“N-no! No FRIDAY. D-don’t don’t wake him up. I’m f-fine, I’m fine” Peter looked over at the nightstand clock and he couldn’t see the time through his tears so he rubbed at his eyes and looked again. It was 5:43 in the morning. He didn’t want to go back to bed so he lied down and stared at the ceiling until the sun came up.
.
.
.
Tony woke up to his phone ringing loudly next to his ear. He stretched and leaned over to pick it up. Expecting it to be Pepper but it wasn’t.
“This is Stark” Tony spoke into the phone.
“Good morning Mr. Stark. I’m sorry to be calling you at such an early hour but I need to know what you plan on doing with May Parker’s body and how you’d like the funeral to go” the lady sounded too happy to be talking about this.
“Oh yes” Tony kinda forgot about this with everything else going on but he needed to do this so Peter can say goodbye so he can start to heal “yes, um, id like um-“
“It’s okay if you’re not sure, I could help you plan the whole thing if you’d like, that’s what I’m here for, to make this easier for you” Tony should really talk to Peter about this. It was his aunt after all.
“Can I give you a call back in an hour?” Tony looked over at the time, 8:14am, that shouldn’t be too early to wake Peter up to talk to him about this.
“That’s no problem Mr. Stark” the lady hung up and Tony walked to Peters room.
“Peter, can I come in?” Tony heard a quiet ‘yea’ then walked in.
He saw Peter lying down on the bed with tears in his eyes. He sat down next to him and put his hand on his leg.
“I need to talk to you about something” he really really didn’t want to talk to Peter about this. He was fourteen years old. Way too long to be dealing with this.
“About what?” Peter looked at him curiosity and brought his hand to wipe at his tears. Then he moved his finger to his mouth. Tony grabbed his hand and shook his head.
“It’s about your aunt Peter” Peter looked at him with a scared look on his face as he sat up straighter.
“Her funeral needs to happen soon and I was just wondering if you’d like to help me plan it?” Tony hated this so much. He could see Peter was trying to think about it “you don’t have to, not if you don’t want to”
“N-no. I don’t want to. If that’s okay?” Peter looked at Tony with bloodshot eyes.
“Okay, that’s fine Peter you don’t have to. I’ll take care of it okay.” Tony stood up and was about to walk out of the room when he realized Peter was still in Tony sweater and track pants.
“You didn’t look through the box of clothes” Tony said more as a statement than a question.
“No I fell asleep” Peter lied back down probably wanting Tony to leave.
“How about we go through it together and you can pick what you want to wear today?” Tony was gonna leave but he knew he had to get Peter into some clean clothes that actually fit him.
“O-okay” Peter sat up in bed and walked over to where Tony was standing then he bent down and sat on the floor as he opened the box to look through the clothes.
Tony sat on the bed and dragged the box over to himself then Peter moved over as well. Tony pulled out some track pants and held them up “these look a little small Pete, are you sure these will fit?”
Peter looked up from the box still with tear stains on his face and he squinted his nose up as he grabbed the pants from Tony.
“Yes Mr. Stark” Peter stood up and held the pants on his waist then looked up to Tony “see? They fit”
“How about you go try them on before you say they fit” Tony looked at Peter then looked towards the bathroom then decided that Peter should probably have a shower before he puts the clothes on “how about you go shower first then you can put your brand new clothes on. Okay kid” Tony wasn’t asking. He grabbed the pants Peter was holding up then pushed Peter over to the bathroom and shut the door. He stood there for a second then waited for the kid to call him.
“Mr. Stark?”
“I know, I’m comimg” Tony walked into the bathroom then turned the shower on for Peter then walked out shutting the door behind him.
While he waited for Peter to be done he walked into the kitchen to make himself a coffee. Ten minutes later he walked back to Peters room not expecting him to be done so quick.
Tony walked into the room then saw that Peter was standing there with the towel wrapped around his body with his hair dripping wet.
“Where’s my underwear?” Of course the kid would ask that. Doesn’t care about his new shoes or sweaters but only his underwear.
Tony dug in the box then found them at the bottom. “Here” Tony handed Peter his underwear that was in a plastic wrapping having about ten pairs inside.
Peter tried to open it up with one hand while also trying to keep his towel from slipping.
“Let me do it” Tony said grabbing the plastic from Peter and ripping it open. He grabbed one out and unfolded it “why don’t you wear actual boxers?” Tony unfolded the underwear and held it out then laughed.
Peter reached over and grabbed them from Tony and held it close to himself “because boxers are too uncomfortable. They get all clumped in my pants and I don’t like it”
“Never has the nickname Underoos fit you so perfectly right now” Tony pulled out a pair of pants and a sweater for Peter then handed it to him. Peter took it from Tony and Tony noticed Peter had a slight smile on his face.
Peter walked over to the bathroom then shut the door and changed then came out with a little smile on his face.
“Looking sharp” Tony walked over to him and ruffled his hair. One thing that Tony liked from when Peter would stay at his house on weekends was the fact that when Peter would shower he would come out and his hair was always super curly. Peter would always try to pat it down but Tony said he liked it like that and then he stopped.
“Thank you Mr. Stark” Peter went to go sit back down on the bed because he really didn’t feel like doing anything else. He really liked Mr. Stark here and joking with him but he knew it wouldn’t last and soon he would have to leave. So he couldn’t get used to this. Soon peter would be all alone with no more Mr. Stark to care for him.