Chapter Text
The six of them sat there in silence, expecting Peter to talk for a minute or two before Tony spoke up. He didn’t want to have to see Peter in this uncomfortable situation any longer.
“I’m hungry. How ‘bout we talk about this over dinner.”
The group all nodded before walking out the door. Peter let them all go first and Tony stayed behind with him so they could walk together. Tony had actually noticed this. Peter always seemed to be the last to do anything. He walked into rooms last, left them last, starting eating last, and spoke last. He didn’t trust anybody. It was a thing seen in kidnapping victims (god, he hopes Peter wasn’t kidnapped). The simple lack of trust in the simplest things. Never wanting people behind him. It was so heartbreaking and Tony would be damned if the kid ever had to do anything that made him uncomfortable ever again.
“Hey, you good?” Tony asked Peter, still noticing he was in the corner of the room.
“Yeah,” he reassured, but his confused face said otherwise, “I’m just… uh… this is all just happening so fast. I mean a year ago I would’ve been happy to see one of them safe, but now- I don’t know- it’s all so bittersweet.”
Tony nodded in understanding, “Yeah and that’s okay. Remember, if it gets too uncomfortable at any point, I’m here and you don’t have to continue with anything if you don’t want.”
Peter smiled with relief, “Thanks.”
The two walked down to the kitchen to see the others standing there waiting. They all looked semi uncomfortable with Peter’s arrival, but nonetheless supportive. They all just wanted to see him get better in the long run.
“So… dinner will be here because I’m too lazy to actually go anywhere and be forced to be awesome. I’ll order some pizza in I guess,” Tony concluded.
As everyone was throwing out what they wanted, MJ and Peter’s eyes connected. She jerked her head towards an empty hallway. She wanted to talk privately with him. Peter hesitated at first, moving his eyes away to make it look like he didn’t see her before giving up and going. MJ went ahead of him before he followed.
They got to the hallway and MJ noticed Peter’s frantic eyes. God, he’s changed so much. Now he’s so high alert. Not to mention the fact that he’s standing at least five feet away from her.
“I don’t even know why I called you back here. I just think I needed to see you,” MJ began, “I mean it’s been years, Pete. You still have a very special place in my heart. I never dated anyone after you. I just want you to know that I’m here for you. Anything you need.”
She brought her hand up, totally forgetting that physical contact was a no. He violently flinched back as if she had just slapped him. She realized her mistake too late and Peter stepped back further. Her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes filled with tears and realized that she could have possibly just broken their small trust. She was only brought out of her shock when Peter said something.
“Sorry… I’m sorry. I’m not really used to contact yet,” he almost whispered, “but I.. uh I want you to know that I trust you. I do, I promise. I’m trying to get better at that. I may be blocked off emotionally and physically, but I want you to know that.”
MJ smiled sympathetically, “I promise I’ll remember that. I’m not leaving you.”
Peter looked up shyly with a small smile on his face. And damn if that wasn’t the best thing MJ had seen in a long time.
Pepper has had a really long day. She had been away on business for the past two weeks and she was more than ready to get home and sleep in her own bed. When she showed up to the tower however, she did not expect ten pizzas to be sitting at the front desk. She pulled out her phone and started texting Tony.
Hey, hon. Did you order all the pizza’s that are down here?
Pep! Yeah, I did… we have guests.
Is there a whole party going on up there?
No, just a kid with super metabolism.
Peter?
Yeah…
Tony.
I know, I know. Please just don’t freak out when you see him.
The kid has been through enough.
The same could be said for me, but I’ll try. I promise.
Thank you, sweets. I didn’t know you were coming back today.
It’s okay.
Pepper composed herself and walked to the elevator. She feels like she has gotten over what happened, but it still scares her. She wants to believe in Peter because of the kid he was before everything happened, but she doesn’t know. If Tony can bring him back into his life, then she can too, she just has to not freak out. Yeah. Simple. She's a strong businesswoman and nothing will make her cower. Yeah…
A ding from the elevator pulled her out of her thoughts. She straightened her jacket and walked out of the elevator. It was only when her feet met the tile that everyone turned around and looked at her. Her eyes met with Tony and he looked at her reassuringly. She scanned the kids and met eyes with Peter.
Oh god… she doesn’t know if she can do this.
His eyes just… they remind her so much of it. They aren’t the cold dead stare that he had that night, but they were still his eyes. And just like that everything came rushing back to her.
She wasn’t paying attention much as Peter and Tony started bickering. This was the family that she never wanted, but never knew she needed. She had never seen Tony this happy before and for once in her life, everything seemed to just be calm.
That is until she heard a sickening crunch.
Her head whipped over to see Peter with Tony's hand in his, but his hand was in a fist and Tony’s hand was completely crushed underneath it. Tony let out a cry of pain and his hand reflexively went up to try and pull his hand out, but he failed as expected considering Peter is enhanced. She couldn’t see Peter’s face, but Tony’s was filled with fear and confusion, confirming her fears that Peter meant to do that.
Happy came rushing into the room, but she was frozen on the couch, watching everything unfold. Happy ran up to Peter and tried to pry Tony’s hand out, but like Tony, he failed. This time was different though because, without even looking, Peter grabbed Happy’s shirt and launched him back. He flew into the wall, leaving a large dent. Before she could fully comprehend what was going on, her legs had forced her to the kitchen. You learn that living with a superhero unfortunately.
“Peter! Let go of my hand! What are you doing, kid?” Tony yelled from the living room. She could still see his eyes full of fear. It must have worked though because Peter let go of his hand and looked around. Tony had backed up as far away on the couch as he could get from Peter.
“I-I don’t- what?” Peter cried out as he searched the room like it was the first time he was seeing this. This didn’t last long however because the second Pepper connected eyes with him, all sense of emotion left his face. It was void, but somehow showed so much.
Peter began to walk at her. She was going to die. This isn’t Peter. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with him or what’s going through his head, but this wasn’t him. He was inches away now and she closed her eyes, ready to be attacked. The hit never came, but instead a loud bang. She opened her eyes to see both Tony and Peter on the ground.
Tony had tackled Peter. He didn’t even have a suit on, but he tackled Peter. The two weren’t on the ground for long because Peter grabbed Tony around the neck, whipping him around before pinning him against the wall. The sight of him doing so made her sick. It was so quick and effortless that it scared her to her core. The things Peter could do.
Happy stood up again looking dazed. The minute he saw what was happening, he started charging for them. All injuries aside. Again, without even looking, Peter grabbed Happy and sent him to the ground, sliding across the floor until he hit the opposite wall. The hit had rendered Happy unconscious.
All Pepper could do was watch. She saw the way Tony was trying to flex his wrist to trigger the suit, but his hand was too broken and the motion simply wasn’t possible. He then tried to move his good hand to Peter’s hands, but it was no use. They were running out of options. Pepper watched in fear as Tony’s face began to turn purple.
“Pete-” Tony rasped out somehow, “Underoos-” another rasp.
Peter remained unmoving and Tony’s body was going slack, but he somehow managed to move his eyes back up to Peter one last time and let out one more word.
“Kid-”
With that Peter’s shoulders went slack and his grip on Tony let off. Tony fell to the floor and started gasping for air, coughing up all the carbon dioxide that became trapped in his lungs. Peter backed up from Tony quickly. He looked around like a deer caught in headlights. For the first time in the past few minutes, Pepper had finally seen some true emotion in his face. Whether that was a relief or not, she didn’t know. He must have been really confused because he bent down to help Tony only for Tony to back up into the wall, his hand out in front of him like he would if he had his suit on. This only caused Peter to stumble back, falling to the floor.
“Mr. Stark? What’s- what’s going on?” His eyes were fearful and his whole body was shaking. He looked down at his hands only to look up and meet Tony’s eyes, which were now filled with a sense of shock.
“What did I do?”
Within seconds Peter stood up and ran to the window. He opened it and jumped out, swinging away before anyone could even say anything. She could only see a glimpse of his eyes before he jumped, but the tears she did see were enough to confirm that he was Peter again.
Pepper looked over to Tony and their eyes connected. She realized he wasn’t able to speak so she reached into her pocket, fumbling for her phone. She clicked the first contact that she knew could handle this. Bruce Banner.
“Bruce, it’s Pepper. I need you to get the med bay ready as fast as you can. Tony and Happy are really hurt.”
“Pep!”
A hand touched her arm and she yelped. Tony was standing right in front of her. She hadn’t even realized that she spaced out.
“Are you okay?” Tony asked.
“Yeah,” she cleared her throat and straightened her jacket, “yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, no. Don’t be sorry. I get it and I’m sorry I sprung this on you so soon. I know it’s hard seeing him again. If it makes you feel any better, Happy punched him when he first saw him.”
Pepper let out a small chuckle at the image of Happy punching him and how glad she is that she didn’t resort to that. Her chuckle didn’t last long as she sobered to the seriousness of the situation. She looked over Tony’s shoulder to the kids again only to see that nobody was there.
“Where did they all go?”
“Oh, well…. Peter ran off when he saw the state you were in. The other three followed him to stop him from having a panic attack. I’m pretty sure he’s okay, but I’ll go check on him. Is there anything you need?”
Pepper felt a sting of guilt at hearing the news of Peter running off. She didn’t want him to not make any progress. “No, I’m okay. Thank you though. I need to take a shower anyway so I’ll just go back to the room.”
Tony smiled up at her with a bit of pity before nodding and running back into the hallway that led to Peter’s room.
It was going to be hard, but she really hopes things can go back to the way they were when their little family was still intact.