twenty-nine.
Peter had been on some much-needed bed rest after his latest incident. He took a week off of school to recuperate and recover from the recent stress of his day to day life. He'd been in the middle of playing video games when his phone buzzed beside him. Thinking that it was Mr. Stark, he picked it up before seeing that it was actually Wade, asking him how he was doing.
A smile blossomed on his face and he paused his game without hesitation to reply. Wade's text back was instant, and he was wondering if Peter would wanna come over for a milkshake if he could get away that is. Peter felt determined to be allowed out. It was now that he missed Aunt May's apartment more than ever. It was actually inside of the city, not hours away from everything and everyone he knew. He missed Delmar's, and Ned, and he was kinda starting to miss the loud bustling of the city around him.
Peter felt kinda sad now, thinking about everything that he was missing since he moved into the compound, and as much as he loved it here, nothing really compared to home. He clicked away from Wade's text message to call Aunt May, who took forever to pick up.
"Peter? What's up?" She sounded so different, he was starting to wonder what he'd missed.
"Uh, h-hey, Aunt May. How are... How are things?" He slammed his fist against his forehead, cursing himself for sounding so stupid. This is Aunt May, she's supposed to be easy to talk to.
"Things are fine, Peter, what'd you need?" She sounded almost, impatient, and it was strange to hear. She hasn't sounded like this in a very long time.
"I just..." He fiddled with his blanket. "I wanna come home... It's kind of a bummer living here... Everything's so far away..."
"Oh, I want you to come home too, Peter... But you can't." The words came as a shock. There was no logical reason why he couldn't come home. Did she not... Want him, anymore? Is that the reason she sent him here, to begin with? Because she wanted to be rid of him?
He heard himself croak out the question that he so desperately wanted to have the answer to, the one he needed to know. "Why?" Why couldn't he come home? Why did he have to stay here? Why did she want him to come here in the first place? She wasn't anywhere near being fond of Tony Stark, but she sent the boy that was like her child to live with him, even after everything that'd happened while Peter was in his care, and now she didn't want him back? Did she ever want him in the first place, or has she felt burdened this whole time after being saddled with Peter?
"I can't have you home yet."
A voice in his mind chimed, "Liar."
He tried to ignore it. "Why?" He asked, near begging.
"I'm very busy lately, Peter. I've been doing a lot of stuff, I wouldn't have the time to look after you in the way that you need me to."
The voice chimed in again, "Sssshe's lying to youuu."
He wanted to call her out, wanted to demand that he be allowed home, but his heart was too soft. His heart didn't want to press her for answers in fear of stressing her out farther than she already sounded. His heart told him to shut up and be content, not burden Aunt May anymore. He waited a moment before telling her goodbye and hanging up.
The flashing lights in his room finally made their way into his thoughts, and he could finally feel the watch endlessly bussing on his wrist. The door opened and there stood not Bucky as he expected, but Tony. He looked worried as all hell for Peter, and in truth he was.
Peter tried to get out of bed, but he lunged forward too hard and slipped, knocking his knees on the floor as he fell. Tony rushed forward and pulled Peter to his chest, trying to gently coax answers out of Peter. All Peter could do was cling onto Tony's shirt, shaking violently with the thoughts rattling around in his mind. All he could manage to get out was 'She doesn't want me anymore'. And maybe Tony didn't understand at first, but that didn't matter.
What really mattered was that Tony sat with Peter, rocking him and coaxing him to take slow breaths, going so far as to breathe along with him until Peter got the hang of doing it for himself. Tony played with his hair, and at this moment Peter felt more like family to Tony Stark than he ever had before. Peter finally calmed down enough to breathe, and ended up falling asleep.
Tony took that time to ask Friday what the hell happened to set Peter off, and she could only say that Peter made a call to May Parker and seemed to be in visible distress the longer that the call went on. He asked her if she knew what went on during the call, but she confessed that she could only provide what happened on Peter's end of the call. He asked her to play it back, so she did, and Tony could hear the shake in Peter's voice, the desperate begging.
Tony felt it pull on his heart. He knew what it felt like to be an outcast at one point. He used to be just like Peter, the genius kid whose parents had died in some unknown tragic story. He knew what it was like, not feeling like they fit in like they belonged somewhere. Tony spent years of his life in all of the wrong places just because he desperately wanted to fit somewhere. He was like a puzzle piece with no picture to make.
Tony decided that from that moment on, he was gonna do whatever it was gonna take to make Peter feel welcome. While Peter slept on his lap, Tony checked the real estate listings, searching everywhere between Brooklyn and Queens. He bookmarked one that he knew would be perfect before returning to messing with Peter's hair.
This was going to be interesting...