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Waves lick up the shoreline, splashing hypnotically, and allow Peter to zone out. It’s not often he’s treated to luxury like this... at least not post-spider bite. Luxury is not unfamiliar to him. Yet time has been jumbled for him and the brunet is surprised he’s still functioning somewhat normally. The teenager hasn’t timed it, but it feels like he’s been seated before the ocean for a couple hours and no time at all simultaneously as he just sits and keeps his thoughts on the water’s movements.
He doesn’t expect anyone to spot him. Not on a private beach.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Had it been any other time, Peter would have squawked indignantly for being snuck up on. (Not that people can generally sneak up on him nowadays... hello, spider anxiety, for making the kid so paranoid.) Instead, the dark headed teen tenses and his chin rotates from between his knees to rest a cheek against the propped up appendages to lazily gaze up at the interloper.
It’s his dad.
Well, if there would be one person to find him, his dad would destroy a city to do so. (Has nearly done at least twice in recent memory.) Needless to say, Peter’s grateful it’s only the elder Stark.
“No.” he mumbles simply, eyes finding their way back to the ocean.
Tony eases down beside him with minimal fanfare. They sit silently together. Time passes more easily now and when Peter inhales he tastes a salty tang on his tongue. Unconsciously he leans toward his dad. He doesn’t realize the engineer is copying his movements until an arm winds up around his shoulders and Peter is leaning into his father’s side. He closes his eyes and Peter allows his body to melt into the comfort.
He whines softly.
Lips press into the crown of his head, “Wanna talk to me now, bud?”
He starts to shake his head out of habit yet he pauses, considering.
“Petey...,” Tony sighs and his hand runs up the nape of his child into his curls.
“You’ll hate me.” he sounds childish to his own ears but he can’t take the words back now. “Dad....” he sobs and buries his nose into a soft, black tee as the waves of emotion finally grab hold of him. Such a difference compared to the steady ocean surrounding them. “Daddy— I can’t—it’s too much!”
“Petey, kiddo, c’mere.” his dad’s voice is as grounding and soothing as the waves beating hypnotically into the air while the teenager’s pulled into his father’s lap.
Peter doesn’t protest that he isn’t five anymore, terrified of the world at large when his dad isn’t next to him. Instead, he willingly allows his body to be shuffled. He just curls up and lays his ear against the older Stark’s heart. And exhales shakily.
“Peter, you know I love you.” Tony states. “I love you more than absolutely anything, bud. Nothing— nothing you do will change that. You have to believe me on this, Peter. I don’t know what I did—”
“No,” falls from the teen’s mouth, cutting off his dad’s anxious rambling. “Dad no, it’s not— I love you, Dad, and I know... I know. It’s just— I’m just so...scared.” he paws absentmindedly at the band t-shirt.
“Talk to me, bud. I can’t help you if I don’t know what's bothering you.”
Peter squeezes his eyes shut. He’s anxiously battled with himself for the last three days, at the very least, on how to confess. On an exhale, he blurts out, “I think... I think I have superpowers.”
A wave laps up the shore.
“Peter?”
“Ummm....”
“Did you just...?”
“Uhh, yeah...? Yeah.”
“Pete— how?”
Peter sips in a quick breath, “I, um, may have been, uh, bitten? By a spider?” he shakes his head against his father’s sternum sans arc reactor when Tony shifts. “Wait! Wait...I know this doesn’t— Dad, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I can’t... I cannot figure it out.”
“Start at the beginning.”
Peter obeys the tone of voice. “Do you remember that field trip to Oscorp you didn’t want me to take?”
Tony’s eyes fall closed and the skin pulls taut. “Yes.”
Dread fills Peter’s belly and he butts his head against the collarbone in his way. He just wants this to be over with, oh my god please. Wants to sink into his dad and never resurface so long as he is safe. And he’s always safe with his dad. Always. “We were in this area...it was actually kinda creepy and you know how much I hate spiders, Dad, I wanted nothing to do with it and and and I don’t think we really were meant to be in there while they were working on radioactive—“
“You were bitten by a goddamn radioactive spider?!”
Yeah, Peter knew this wasn’t gonna turn out well.
“Dad—”
“Where the hell was I at?”
“Well you—”
“Shit, I was in Dubai, wasn’t I? With Pepper. Fuck, kid, I’m— Peter, what...?”
“I think Uncle Bruce should check me out.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Tony pulls Peter away from his chest and his dark brown eyes fly over his child’s form. “That was three fucking weeks ago. I think I’m going to be checking you out for my own peace of mind.”
“Please don’t panic.”
Tony’s mouth snaps shut and his lower jaw locks.
“You’re okay?” his dad murmurs after half a minute and yanks him back into his chest. “God, Peter, I don’t— I can’t even begin to fathom....”
He wonders if now is a good time to mention the aftereffects of the spider bite?
“You said superpowers?” Tony may as well have read Peter’s mind. “Peter?”
Oh yeah, he’s not sure how well this portion of the confession is going to go; Peter closes his eyes and wishes it all away. What was he thinking?
At another prompt, Peter begins to explain how he can stick to things like crazy now holy shit, Dad, you wouldn’t believe it! and doesn’t realize how his voice pitches in awe ohmygod, Dad, I can hear things, like, really far away! Didn’t you say the walls in the Tower were soundproof? I don’t think they really are to be honest and disbelief does this mean I’m part-spider now? enough to damn near send his father into a panic attack. And today is only a Wednesday night for the Starks.