Chapter Text
He clamped his mouth shut.
And it was sealed shut, for good.
The death of his parents rocked him. Peter was frightened, frightened that he was going to be alone for a long time. Sure, there was his Uncle and Aunt that stood by him through his shaky steps, but it wasn’t the same.
It wasn't the same. He saw his preschool and kindergarten friends always call out for their parents. He felt ashamed for not having parents of his own.
He didn't want to answer why he didn't have any, so he didn't. He didn't want to hear his weak crying voice, so he didn't. He didn't want to make sound, so he didn't.
He did end up growing to like Ben. He smiled, he laughed, he played and occasionally made a squeal of happiness when he hung out with him. It made May smile, and he liked that. He liked seeing smiles.
Peter also loved listening to them. He loved hearing their soft comforting voices. He loved hearing Ben hum while he cleaned their apartment room when May would shout down the hall that their burnt food was ready.
He loved listening to the way his street would screech and scream with bustling cars. He loved listening to the homeless man playing on his guitar, trying to earn a few dollars.
He was known for loving the simplest of things, and would always adore any presents given to him. Adore any small amount of money that was handed to him.
He especially adored his eighth birthday present.
It was an Ironman mask, and he gave his uncle and aunt the biggest hug he could give them. Cause he adored it, he loved it.
It wasn’t until May of next year rolled around. Peter remembered what happened vividly. The drone landed in front of him, it raised its machine gun towards him.
And he just stood there, raising his arm back.
He truly thought he could fight it back.
When Ironman managed to land just in time to destroy the bot, Peter could only stare back at the man in wonder. He caught the small creases and dents the suit had, he remembered the bright red color it showed. He remembered how the sound of his arc reactor whirred as the smaller squeaks and turns of the metal broke through the crowd.
He remembered it all.
“Nice work kid.”
He held onto the way he sounded for a long time. Peter could only stare back in awe as he flew off once again.
Around September of that same year, he made a friend. One boy took curiosity about why he didn’t speak in his class. Peter pulled out his phone and typed away, letting the voice speak for him.
When he saw the boy’s eyes widen, he was expecting for him to just walk away. Yet… no.
Ned was his name. And ever since that day, he always had his best man helping him. He talked a lot, and he liked that. He usually only had to smile and nod most of the time.
Yet he couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy. He loved talking to, but the only way he could talk a lot was to let the phone speak for him. Peter wrote one long paragraph about- something about the newest Star Wars movie coming out, and Ned couldn’t help but laugh at the paragraph being so long.
Peter blushed, reaching back to tuck away the phone.
A few years pass, and he was bitten by a spider. He never felt so much pain course through him before. He remembered the shocked faces Ben and May had when he made small cries, whimpers breaking through his lips.
He understood why. He was making noise, yet he was already a teenager. They were childish and weak, and very painful to create. So the cries coming from him scared them. And Peter couldn’t really blame them.
That’s when he noticed the powers he had gotten, once he suddenly became better. The pain vanished, and it was replaced with abilities. He could climb walls, he had super strength and his senses… all dialed up to eleven.
He loved that the most. It was like hell when it was the first day he had a migraine because of the overwhelming feeling, but he adored how he could hear people talk from almost a mile away. He adored how the little buzz behind his neck would come, helping him to brace for impact as Flash was raising his fist.
He loved it, and he treasured it.
---------------------------
It was fast, too fast.
Peter remembered how it happened. He was typing out the next part of their conversation. Ben was waiting quietly as he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, seemingly becoming impatient with Peter as he gave a playful glare. Yet the teen knew better… he purposely slowed down his rapid typing, causing Ben to laugh with him.
Maybe, if he hadn’t made Ben laugh... The crash wouldn’t have happened.
Maybe, if he had listened to the buzzing behind his neck sooner, he would have seen the bright lights of another car crashing into them. He would have been able to cover his uncle from the blow.
But, those were only maybes. One moment, he was sitting comfortably on the black car seat. The next, he felt his head crash against the window, a shot rang out as a loud piercing noise broke through. It was loud, loud and painful.
Then it went dark.
It was only when he woke up, he realized how many things changed under a few hours.
Apparently, the car was being driven by a robber. He swerved hard to the right to try and escape the cops, causing the crash.
Ben was gone, died in an instant. And Peter…
From what May could write to him on a piece of notebook paper. Doctors were amazed by the rapid healing his body was doing, but apparently, the ears contained too many shards of glass, and when they went to remove it, his ears had already scarred.
They didn’t know that it would happen, but the extraction of the shards only made things worse…
He became deaf.
It was from then on, the teenager realized how much things were about to change. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t hear. He could make no sound, the only thing that would help him through the year would be his last few memories of Ben talking to him.
Suddenly, the wish of everything being silent he made when he was younger, he wished he never wished that. He wished he never had thought of the thought in the first place.
He was internally freaking.
After receiving the suit from The Tony Stark- (which was later modified once the man found out he was mute.) He quickly started trying to find out if the communicators had some sort of subtitles to them.
The billionaire didn’t know, he didn’t want him to know. May- luckily decided to follow her boy’s wishes and not put that he was deaf onto his medical records. Even if it caused a slight argument.
They couldn’t afford any hearing aids at the time, and even if May scraped up enough money, he managed to convince her to not “waste” the money of the aids. He rather let her save the money for something else.
He learned sign language pretty fast, but he rarely used it. Only when Ned wanted to talk in “private.”
So he managed to NOT let Tony Stark find out he was deaf, reading lips was easy for him. And he still had a narrator on his phone, so it was fine.
Fighting in a group though- without sound? Was not.
It was only when he managed to go through the mask’s hud options he found a small screen that was used as a communicator- with the words being typed out as they spoke. He sighed in-
TS: Underoos!
That was his signal. He breathed in and quickly jumped in the air, shooting out his webbing towards Steve Rogers. He managed to tug the shield out of his grasp before he landed, facing back up to the group.
“Nice job kid.” He saw Ironman say. Peter couldn't contain his excitement at the fact he was posed in front of a group of superheroes He took advantage of his suit modification.
He raised his hands.
“Thanks. Well I could have stuck the landing a little better it's just the new suit- it’s nothing Mr. Stark, it’s perfect thank-”
Signing was a little difficult due to the shield, but the suit caught on easily- even if Peter’s hands were shaky.
Tony may have realized at this point the kid… was mute, yet really loved to talk. Maybe the suit upgrade was a mistake.
“Kid-”
“Yeah?”
“We don’t really need to start a conversation.”
Peter’s hands slowly went down, yet it quickly went back up just to salute to Captain America. “Hey everyone.”
Tony quickly signaled him to quiet down, causing Steve to laugh. It seemed as if the teen lightened up the situation, just barely though, cause the soldier was back to talking with the billionaire.
“You’ve been busy…”
It was then where Peter started focusing in on his own thoughts. He had to think hard. Not only was communicating back to his group is going to be a hassle but it was going to be a risk. Signing usually requires two hands, and that wasn’t a simple thing to do when you’re in mid-swing.
His senses started buzzing softly, and he quickly looked around, seeing the talking had come to a stop. His brows furrowed in confusion, only to see something suddenly appear in a flash beside him.
Peter was punched back, as he felt the shield slip out of his hands. He internally groaned and looked up to see a man giving back the shield to Captain, Peter sighed.
He guessed the fight was starting…
------------
‘Shoot shoot shoot-’
Ant guy was big now. He didn’t like it at all. He was too big to punch down, as his one and only try seemed to only let him take a step back before he gained back his balance in a second.
He looked around to see the bustling still happening around him, and he realized only him and War Machine were somewhat focused on the giant man.
Peter looked around for a split second, seeing Tony fly around in his suit, following Rhodes.
He blinked.
If it was anyone else, they might have thought that the random movie scene coming in their heads was just a random thought, but it wasn’t to Peter. It wasn’t.
He quickly let go of his webbing, frantically signing, he hoped the modification to his suit could correct his shaking hands, “Hey guys-!”
Peter Parker shot another one of his webbings to Antman’s wrist. The man’s jerking motion from his arm cause Peter to be flung into the air, and he took advantage of that to continue, “You’ve ever seen that really old movie?- Empire Strikes Back?!”
He saw Rhodey’s communicators start typing.
WM: Jesus Tony how old is this guy-
Tony cut him off, TS: I don’t know I didn't carbonate him- He’s on the young side.
Peter started freaking out. If they didn’t listen, his plan of his wouldn’t work. He silently prayed for them to understand.
“You know that part-?!”
He shot out another piece of webbing, “When they’re on the snow planet? With those walking-” He came to a stop as his senses buzzed behind him. He quickly turned around just in time for him to avoid Scott’s hand.
“The walking thingies-”
TS: Wait Wait- Kid you're onto something.
WM: Tony go high!
Peter quickly loosened his webbing to dive between Antman’s legs. He started turning around in circles around the legs, causing the string to tighten each round. Before he knew it, he started to see him tip over, and the last push that Ironman and War Machine gave him caused him to fall over onto part of the airplane.
The teen smiled and quickly faced the two Ironmen, holding a thumbs up. Yet, he didn’t see part of Scott’s arm coming his way.
His arm collided with his body, causing the boy to crash into a few boxes and slide to a stop on the ground. Peter pressed his lips together, feeling part of the mask was slid up. He was in- much pain at the moment.
He felt the ground shake near his legs, and he quickly shot out his arms, trying to push back whoever had appeared beside him.
Yet he quickly opened his eyes after feeling hard hands wrap around his wrists. He saw Tony speaking to him.
“Hey, it’s just me.” He appeared to be saying. The boy deflated, and with his arms still being held, he waved with his right hand, acknowledging his presence.
Tony sighed and released his arms, “Ok- Ok you’re done, kid.”
Peter blinked, before he brought his hand back up to sign, “No.”
“Nope- you’re done. Stay down or I’ll tell Aunt May!” Tony pointed his finger at him before his faceplate slid back up. Peter quickly tried to get back up, only to feel soreness course through his body. The teen collapsed onto the ground, sighing.
Maybe… stopping here for today wasn’t bad…
It was the crash that alerted him. Not because of the sound since he literally couldn’t hear, but because he saw two LEGO pieces tumble towards his feet.
He turned around to see his friend’s LEGO Death Star in pieces. His mouth was open in awe as he stared back at him. Peter winced, realizing… just what was about to happen.
“You’re Spiderman-”
Peter quickly shook his head, raising his hands, “No- No no-! Quit it sign so May doesn’t overhear-!”
“You were on the ceiling!” Ned frantically signed out. Peter signed and used his hand to rub his face, realizing this mistake was due to him not looking at his surroundings before entering. ‘Great going Parker.’
He felt the ground shake slightly, and his head turned around to face the door. Peter quickly took off his suit and kicked it away from sight just as May opened the door. She smiled at him, quickly untying her bun.
“Hey, so I burned the food again…”
Peter managed to let out a breathy laugh, causing both Ned and May to look slightly shocked for a moment before they relaxed.
“Take out?” May asked. Peter nodded as he signed thank you to her, before she shut the door, leaving the two teens again.
Ned started asking him millions of questions all in one go, and Peter could only stand and stare since signing doesn’t really stop anyone from ‘speaking.’ After a few moments, he managed to convince his friend that he will answer all of this tomorrow at school. Ned reluctantly sighed and left Peter alone in his room, and the silent teenager couldn’t be happier at the moment.
He grabbed his phone and his old set of headphones. He set them to what he thought would be a comfortable volume and played one of the songs he knew, adding the subtitles.
He laid down on his bed, staring silently at the screen, imagining he could hear the words being sung.
His eyes kept to the flying pair of Vulture wings that looped around him. He felt some rubble started to be poured onto his head, yet he thought nothing of it. He tried to focus on what Toome had to say, he really did, yet it was as if his speech was short, and he quickly flew out of the building.
Peter raised an eyebrow and was getting ready to follow him, yet a piece of cement crashed in front of him.
Before he knew it, he was stuck underneath the warehouse. The weight was pressing down onto his back, he could barely breathe. Peter took off his mask and looked at his surroundings, he saw a small patch of light coming through, causing the boy to slightly calm down.
He opened his mouth, readying himself to call for help, but nothing seemed to come out. Only shaky breaths and groans came out, nothing more.
The boy shook his head as he felt another piece fall beside him. He was going to die here.
He was going to die here because he was too scared to speak up. Too scared to do anything-
“If you’re nothing without the suit, then you shouldn’t have it. ”
He imagined how Mr. Stark’s voice would be. He’s heard it multiple times, over television, and in-person ever since he was a little boy. The imagined sounded sentence echoed in his skull, and it surprisingly became louder and louder as time under the warehouse went on.
It made him… feel… angry? Maybe- More like determined.
Determined to prove Tony Stark- his idol- wrong. To say that- he doesn’t need a suit to keep being a hero. To say that… he was strong enough…
Peter pressed his palms against the rocky floor, ‘Spider-Man… Come on Spider-Man…’
His muscles tensed as they pushed, ‘ Come on Spider-Man- Come on-!’
He lifted the rubble, letting out a breath of relief. He let a few tears shed as he pushed the ceiling up once more. The teen quickly pushed himself out, only to feel the heavy cement shake the ground.
Peter turned around to see the mess, he winced.
It was fine, he was out, he was safe… His eyes narrowed.
He had a vulture to follow.
------------------------
‘Just your typical homecoming Peter! You’re hanging outside of an invisible airplane- Fighting your girlfriend’s dad!’
He slipped slightly once again, making him gasp out in surprise. This caused Peter to look down to see the Vulture launching off again.
Straight. For. Him.
He quickly dodged out of the way, seeing the metal wing break through the metal. The plane started glitching out, causing the lights to rapidly turn off and on again.
The other wing cut off his web, and Peter nearly shouted out in fright at the speed he was falling in. His eyes whipped around to see the jet of the plane close in on him.
‘Not good not good not good-’
He shot out another string of webbing, and it stuck onto the back of Toomes. After a few moments of hanging for his life, the man slipped off as well, and they both were headed straight for the jet engine once more.
He quickly started freaking out, and blindly shot multiple rounds of webbing at the spinning blades. He crashed onto the center of it, and opened his eyes, seeing his webbing managed to stop the rotation of the blades.
‘Huh, it actually worked…’
Peter’s head darted to the head of the plane, seeing Toomes try and climb back up. Before he could even think on how to get back into the action, the engine broke through and he was falling once again.
He took advantage of the momentum and swung around to the other side of the plane, luckily slamming his body onto the side.
“You’re starting to annoy me, Pedro!” He heard the man shout. Peter looked up to see the Vulture looming over him, he raised his wings, getting ready to slam them onto the boy-
An explosion rang out.
The teen saw the fire from the top engine, and he saw the left-wing started to break out. The rumble from the plane caused Toomes to lose his balance, and he slowly started sliding over to the back of the plane, trying to latch on for his life as well.
Peter instantly pulled himself up, seeing the view of many towers shine through the clouds, nerves buzzed through his body, realizing they were going to crash onto many buildings if they didn’t do anything.
He quickly pulled himself over to the top of the plane and started crawling over to the left-wing. Maybe… just maybe he could turn this plane around.
He glanced back to Toomes, seeing he was securing himself for the future crash. The boy took advantage of the man being busy and let his webs stick to the plane’s wing. He breathed in deeply and faced the city.
He was going to turn this plane around- whether it killed him or not.
With a jittery grunt, he pulled, seeing the flaps of the wings slide up. The plane started turning away from the buildings, most of the maneuvers were quick calls, and Peter couldn’t help but think about what if he slipped the webbing from his grip.
It wasn’t until he saw the ground getting dangerously close to him was when he started to panic. Peter aimed the aircraft over to the empty beach lot and he let it dive down on its own. The boy bent down onto the plane and clasped his hands to the metal, holding his breath.
A crash broke through the city.
He was noiselessly working on some machinery Stark had given him to do. Ever since the Vulture incident, Peter has met up a lot with Tony Stark. Sure he rejected the offer to become an Avenger, but the man offered him another deal that would still teach him the basics of becoming a smarter student and maybe even a better hero.
An internship.
He couldn’t help but smile and sign yes.
Once he took a step into the lab, he was given a new Stark phone. One that luckily followed his signing patterns by some bracelets he created. He would have never needed to type again. And he enjoyed that.
So now he was here, quietly tinkering on his web-shooters, trying to piece them all back together after taking it apart. Mr. Stark said it was like a training exercise, and the boy couldn’t help but take on the challenge.
It was his ninth time here, so he was still kinda nervous around the man, especially because of the two other times he was here.
The first incident was partially Peter’s fault.
He decided to text Ned when they were rising up the elevator, and it was only when Peter looked up he saw Stark’s mouth moving up and down, and he cringed. He couldn’t catch what he was saying, so he only nodded, hoping he could piece some of the words together.
Things went downhill from there. As Peter was following one of the written instructions Tony had laid out in front of him (So that he could make his webs stronger), he looked up to see the different vials in front of him, and blindly grabbed one of the white ones, thinking it was his web fluid.
As he was about to pour it into one of the other tubes, Tony’s hand quickly smacked the vial out of his hands, causing it to smash and spill all over the lab floor.
Peter peered down at the spill in shock, before he faced back up, seeing Tony’s furious face in front of him.
“Kid! I told you! I ran out of your web fluid yesterday!” He shouted at him, at least from what Peter could tell.
The boy looked down, seeing the substance start to tarnish and harden, his eyes widen in fear. The vial was filled with potassium. He looked back to his hands that were containing more of a liquid sticky substance for his web fluid.
He was about to create an explosion.
Peter wildly waved his hands, signing many apologies to the man, saying it slipped his mind. Tony instantly bought into the lie, yet quickly told Peter to just clean up, not wanting to have another heart attack for the day.
The second was worse.
Tony was working on one of his gauntlets right behind Peter. The boy quickly signed to Stark that he would be going to the bathroom for just a minute.
It was just a minute, he said.
Yet he took his time, wiping his eyes away from the tiredness. His hands were also starting to cramp from using them all day, so a break was much needed.
When he came out, he was greeted by one hell of a mess.
He saw the repulsor Tony was working on was starting to travel around the room, and Tony quickly ducked as it almost crashed into his head.
Peter breathed in and quickly jumped onto the ceiling. He waited for his senses to buzz and caught the repulsor in mid-flight, forcing his arms to wrap around it tightly as his feet stuck to the ceiling.
It took a long minute, yet after he pulled off the small engines the flying hand finally shut off, and he sighed in relief.
He looked to his hands to see that they were burned by his fingertips. He winced at the heat pounding against them.
As the teen plopped back onto the ground, he saw Tony bend in front of him, grabbing and flipping his hands back and forth. Peter was about to say he was fine, yet Tony suddenly spoke before he could move his hands.
“Peter- I was saying there was a simple lock that you just had to pull out. It would have shut off the gauntlet immediately.”
The boy looked down to the red and gold repulsor, seeing the small lock poking out. He winced, realizing he basically trashed the man’s previous work.
Tony seemed to read his expression, and he quickly waved his hand, telling Peter it was alright, he didn’t want something bad to happen anyways.
Yet the boy couldn’t help but feel a wave of guilt fall over him that day.
Now it was back at the present, with his fingers fully healed due to his enhanced body. Tony had left earlier at that time, saying something about getting some pizza for their break. Peter just signed back it was an excuse to eat some greasy dinner.
The teen breathed out tiredly as he finally backed away from his work station, taking a mental break from his project. He quietly picked himself up and went over to the vials, grabbing the correct tube of web fluid and bringing it back over to his desk.
It was already dark outside, and storm clouds were covering the moon tonight.
He didn’t think much of it until the power went out.
Peter blinked and looked around, seeing that the darkness was… wasn’t fun. He never expected for a room to ever be this dark, but here he was, not even able to see his own desk in front of him.
He started internally freaking out, the man wasn’t here, and he couldn’t hear OR see anything. He could only feel, not even call for help.
The boy shuddered and tried to remain calm, searching for his phone on the desk. Yet as the minutes passed with his fingers bumping into other machinery parts, the more he freaked out.
It wasn’t until he felt the smooth screen of his phone he finally took a puff in. He grabbed it and turned it on, internally cursing at himself as he saw his battery life.
One Percent.
‘Stupid .’
He quickly opened his messages and searched for Tony’s contact, opening it up and typing quickly.
“Mr. Stark, the power went out and I can’t see.” He clicked the send button, seeing the message turn to blue as it delivered. He started typing out the fact that his phone was about to die, yet the phone just zapped out, and he was greeted by darkness again.
Peter started hyperventilating. He would be telling himself some stupid math jokes to just calm himself down, yet due to the expanding darkness and the fact he can't exactly see anything or hear anything was starting to freak him out.
He blindly reached out, walking forward into a wall. He managed to find himself in a hallway, knowing that this led up to Tony’s private quarters.
He didn’t like that he was entering the man’s room, but he also knew he was most likely there, and at the moment he really needed something to ground him.
Peter felt his fingers slide off as the wall entered the room, he felt the frame of the door brush against him.
He was shaking now.
He didn’t know where to go anymore. Peter’s never been in this section of the tower. He let out a nervous breath, wanting to ask if Tony was there.
The boy felt his throat rumble softly, yet he knew he didn’t make a coherent word, he never did.
He probably let out a wail or… something like that.
Peter cringed, realizing he couldn’t call for help. He tried to take another step forward, yet his knees only buckled and crashed onto the floor. The teen hugged himself, trying to breathe normally. He couldn't though… he couldn’t…
He wasn’t strong enough at the moment, and he hated it.
His hand flailed out, bumping onto a low coffee table. Peter searched for anything he could grasp, anything he could hold onto, anything that could ground him.
Peter felt a glass cup and a spoon…
His breath hitched.
He could make noise…
He grabbed the cup and spoon, letting the metal object clang against the glass. He didn’t know if he was breaking the cup, he didn’t know how loud he was being.
He only hoped that the man could find out where he was.
Peter didn’t like being alone. His parents left him at such a young age, and it caused him to become silent. He didn’t like feeling like he was the only person in a daring situation, he didn’t like how everything he did, he had to do himself. He just wished he could ask for help- but he can’t.
Peter didn’t like the soundless void. He remembered songs that were looped into his head, he remembered his parent’s voices, he remembered Uncle Ben’s voice- May’s. He even remembered Tony Stark’s voice muffled through the mask at the Stark expo. He wished he could hear Ned’s voice, he wished he could hear Lizzie’s voice as well, Happy’s, M.J’s, even Flash’s.
He wanted to hear…
Peter didn’t like the darkness. He couldn’t see anything. He wouldn’t- couldn’t tell if the objects were colorful or dull, bright or dark. He wouldn’t be able to see his friend’s faces or Aunt May’s burnt food in front of him.
Peter. Didn’t. Like. This.
He wanted to scream
It wasn’t until, finally. Someone heard his silent pleas.
Rough calloused hands brushed against his shoulders, and the teen hastily dropped the two objects.
His hands cupped over Tony’s hands, trying to calm himself down. After a few moments of just breathing, he could tell by the way the man was moving, he was speaking. The boy swayed his head, he couldn’t hear him, he couldn’t see him, he couldn’t talk to him.
He started crying, sobbing and breaking into breathless sobs. He felt Tony tense up in front of him, gripping Peter’s shoulders more firmly.
The teen continued to cry in front of his mentor. He shook his head again, feeling his head pound, fingers twitching every few seconds. He didn’t like this. He felt like dead weight.
Peter gasped as he felt Tony’s hands flip over, grabbing his own shaking hands. He quivered in surprise as his hands were pulled forward, placed flatly against the man’s chest.
The boy stilled.
He felt the soft whirrs of the arc reactor rumble softly against his touch. His heartbeat was strong and slightly calm, beating against his smaller hands. Peter quickly directed his attention to the repetitive feeling that was against his palms.
He tried to pull away after a few moments, thinking the man would feel uncomfortable, but Tony only forced them back onto his chest. Peter didn’t complain, and he went back to focusing on calming himself down.
He bowed his head slightly as he felt exhaustion creep up to him. Yet he felt better, he was out of the blind daze. It took him a moment to notice that his eyes were clamped shut. Hesitantly, he fluttered them open, feeling his long lashes brush against his wet cheeks.
Peter saw the room was slightly better. He turned his head to see the moon was back on in the sky, causing the private quarters to be flooded with a blue-white hue.
Peter nearly sobbed again in relief.
The teen saw Tony was speaking again, asking if he was ok, and something along the lines of what were five things he could feel.
Peter only shook his head again, slowly bringing his hands away from the man. Tony, this time let him do as he wished, eyeing how his hands raised in front of him, getting ready to sign.
Yet before he could do anything, he paused, remembering Tony wouldn’t be able to understand. He remembered the day Tony found him, and when he found out he was mute. The billionaire quickly said he couldn’t read much sign, and Peter only smiled, pulling out his phone.
Now, now he really needed to “speak” with him, he needed to tell him he needed help.
It seemed the man caught on the idea. He reached towards the coffee table and grabbed a napkin, before reaching into one of his sweatpant pockets and pulling out a pen. Peter quickly grasped on the two objects and wrote messily onto the weak paper.
I can’t hear.
Peter hesitantly gave the man the napkin. Tony raised his eyebrow and grabbed it from him, reading the three words. His eyes widened.
“What-? Did something happen in the lab?”
The teen shook his head, suddenly feeling bad about the whole situation.
He was still shaking, eyes burning with tears as his cheeks were soaked. He was kneeling on the floor, with Tony bending down right in front of him. The whole situation already looked bad.
And from the way Tony looked at him now, Peter realized he caught on. The man’s eyebrows furrowed together, he pursed his lips looking both worried, guilty, and confused.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The boy breathed, ‘Because how could you see me if I told you that. How would you react? You would treat me with pity- pity- weak weak weak I don’t want to be weak- I don’t want to be like this!-‘
The teen couldn’t write his answer on the napkin. He couldn’t stop his hands from shivering. Yet Peter knew Tony understood his silent message, he was Tony Stark after all.
So when he felt his hand wrapped around his, he looked up through some tears that managed to blur his vision. He saw the man looking at him sadly, eyes squinting in remorse and sympathy.
Peter broke at the graze, repeatedly signing sorry over and over again, breaking, falling apart.
No matter how much Peter cried, the man stayed with him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the man saying over and over again that “it’s ok kid.” It only caused the teen to tired himself out.
Tony stayed, rubbing his thumb across the knuckles of Peter’s shaking hands.
Peter walked out of the elevator with a shaky sigh. Tony canceled two previous lab days ever since he finally told the truth, and he was more than nervous to see him.
He quietly stepped into the lab, only to see Tony talking over the phone, writing a few things down. He decided to set down his stuff at the desk the man had given him, opening his bag to drop his web-shooters onto the desk.
Peter went on to silently working by himself, just making sure his new upgrades and web fluids were working correctly.
A soft tap on his shoulder snapped him out of his focus. He turned around to see Tony behind him, gesturing for him to stand up.
The teen did as he was told, and quickly spotted a small scanner in the man’s hands. He turned on his phone, making sure his narrator was on before he sighed, “What’s that Mr. Stark?”
Tony looked at him before he smiled, making sure he was directly facing Peter as he spoke.
It was a small gesture the man did, but Peter couldn’t help but feel cared by it.
“A surprise, now turn your head.”
He trusted the man with his life, so without question he nodded and turned his head, feeling Tony place once of his hands on his shoulders as the scanner shined over the side of his head. He repeated the action on the other side and gave a thumbs up to Peter, signaling him that he was done.
Yet before he could wander over back to his desk, Tony tapped on his shoulder once more, having a guarded look, he looked slightly hesitant.
“How… Is it like to… nevermind.”
Peter knew what the question was, he’s been asked that before when he met Ned. But the fact that his idol was asking that, he felt slightly touched at his concerned look.
The teen raised his hands again, “It’s kinda weird. I understand what people are saying whenever I see their mouths, but other than that I just have to rely on my spider-senses.” He told the man. Tony seemed as if he understood, yet Peter wasn’t done yet.
“It’s scary, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m just a boy who can’t make or hear sound. And I don’t really mind- I’m just really glad I’m not blind.” He said with a smile, trying to lighten up the situation. But he could tell the atmosphere changed as the man grinned sadly. He turned his body so that his attention would be on the boy, and Peter raised his brow in question.
“Is that why you were scared the other night?”
It took him a second longer to see what the man said, due to his lips barely moving at the question. Peter nodded yet shrugged, rubbing his arm up and down.
Tony watched for a minute longer, before his hand found it’s way back onto Peter’s shoulder. The man squeezed his hand, showing a smile, “You made the glass clink last night… so you aren’t entirely soundless.”
Peter blinked, the man obviously tried to lighten up the mood, but everyone knew Mr. Stark wasn’t good with emotions. The teen stared for a brief moment before he suddenly couldn’t contain the light feeling in his chest, and began to laugh.
He never felt like this. Sure he’s laughed before, but they were created out of puffs of air, barely making a noise,
Now, he felt the vibrations course through his throat as something light sprouted from his stomach growing into his chest.
He looked to the man to see that he was startled, yet there was such a bright smile on his face, and it made Peter laugh even more at the exaggerated expression.
The teen saw his mentor join in the laughter, and he couldn’t help but continue on with just signing to the man as they sat back onto the couch in the room, leaving their projects laying on their desks.
He woke up to some soft claps on his back. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he pushed himself up, blinking as he took in his surroundings. Peter flushed red once he realized he accidentally slept on the couch. He looked up to see Tony… smirking…
He squinted, holding a confused expression. Peter looked outside to see the sun rising, did he sleep over at Stark’s tower?
The tapping on his shoulder didn’t stop until he locked eyes with his mentor. Peter shook his head tiredly, signing on if he fell asleep on the couch overnight. Tony sighed, replying quickly-
“Yes Yes, you did. Your aunt was alerted and she was fine with it. Now come on- get up we have to get somewhere.”
Peter pushed himself up after seeing how jumpy the man was being. He grabbed his phone and placed it in his back pocket before he went to follow the man. The boy found himself back at a private medical bay, where he was led into another room where there was a small modern Stark monitor, as well as small machines with two foldable seats in front of them. If anything, it looked like if the man just hastily created the room in a rush.
Peter looked up, “Mr. Stark?” He signed.
Tony only smiled wider, “Sit down.” He ordered, and the boy complied, slowly sitting down onto one of the seats. The man nodded and leaned back, seemingly calling someone else.
A lady by the name of Helen Cho (Thanks to the name tag) walked in with a soft smile on her face, it grew lightly once they made eye contact.
“You haven’t told him?” she seemed to say. Peter raised an eyebrow at his mentor, looking very perplexed.
The man walked up to him, rubbing his hands together before he pointed to the black casing that was laying on the medical desk in the room. Helen handed the case to Tony, who then placed it in front of Peter.
He opened it.
He saw hearing aids. They were already customized from what he could tell, holding a dark blue metallic color at the base, while it has a small dark red rim before the rest was just clear.
Peter slowly raised his hands to his face covering his mouth in disbelief. He looked up at Stark, his smile suddenly growing. He shook his head back and forth, gasping out many startling noises. Tony only nodded, showing a toothy smile.
The teen looked back at the two aids once again, both resting at the black case. He fully covered his face with his fidgeting hands, feeling thick tears slowly trail down his face.
He cried- he cried hard. He could feel Stark’s hands rubbing up and down his shoulders, trying to calm him down. Yet nothing seemed to work.
Peter just felt... so happy.
He removed his hands from his face, showing Tony that he was alright. The man only smiled softly at the look as the boy tried to wipe away his tears.
He lifted his hands, “Thank you- Thank you so much Mr. Stark I-“
Tony cut him off, “Kid you’re shaking so much- calm down.” He lightly ordered, letting out a nervous chuckle. Peter smiled brightly, forcing his body to try and calm down.
After the few moments of crying and shaking through the joy that overwhelmed him, he slowly grabbed one of the hearing aids, trying to put them on. Yet he only broke into a fit of breathy laughter, his hands were shaking too much to properly put them on.
Tony shook his head in fondness before he started to help Peter out. As the last few adjustments made by the teen were being settled, he shakily looked up to see Helen typing stuff onto the Stark pad she had in front of them. She nodded to the man, he then looked at Peter.
“You ready?”
Peter slowly nodded, handing clutching his pants.
Tony, seeing his nervousness, sat beside him, placing his hand on his right knee as the lady started to work the Stark pad right beside his head. There was a sharp buzzing sensation that coursed through the sides of his head, and the grip tightened.
He felt calloused fingers brush his knuckles once again, and he slowly breathed, trying to control his nerves down.
It wasn’t until the buzzing ceased he looked around cautiously. There was a soft ticking noise before he became nonexistent. Soft humming and whirring noises suddenly became clear. Peter heard the soft breaths of the two adults in the room, his eyes widened in awe.
“-id... Kid?… can you hear me?”
Peter whipped his head to the side, seeing Tony’s anxious face suddenly morph into an excited and relieved one. The teen smiled so brightly before he surprised the man with a hug. He felt him tense for a few seconds before his arms slowly wrapped around him, pulling him closer.
“So, I’ll take that as a yes,” Tony said brightly.
Peter frantically nodded into the man’s shoulder. He wished he could tell the man not to shut up, he practically fell in love with his voice. Heck, he would probably fall in love with any voice he heard now.
But the way Tony’s sounded so caring… it made him melt .
It was filled with hidden love and he didn’t want his voice to stop, he didn’t.
Peter retreated away from the man after the hug became a bit too long, realizing he invaded his personal space, “Oh- I’m sorry Mr. Stark I didn’t even ask if I could-” His signing was stopped as he saw Tony stand up abruptly
“Kid we are there now so don’t even say sorry for a hug.” The man gruffed out. The boy could only smile in wonder as he heard his voice turn from suddenly caring too defensive, he didn’t remember how voices sounded.
The man smirked at Peter, looking down at his watch for a brief moment, before he looked up, “Want to go out for a walk?”
Peter couldn’t wipe off his smile, he quickly signed out his rants on how the world around him was so noisy yet beautiful, and Tony didn’t seem to mind, rarely drawing his attention away from him.
It wasn’t until the sound of a bell - ohmygosh he could hear that - caught the boys attention to stop signing. He saw a small cart of ice creams pass by them, and Peter smiled, forcing his attention away to keep on talking to the man.
Yet Tony must have caught his gaze before that, he pointed behind him to the cart, “Do you want some ice cream?”
The boy jumped slightly, forgetting he could hear the man even if there were multiple sounds around him. He looked back to the cart and shrugged, “I mean If you don’t mind.” He signed, presenting a shy smile.
The man rolled his eyes and guided the boy to the small cart, and practically laughed when he asked for Stark Raving Hazelnuts. Peter quickly realized the man caught his hidden smirk, and Tony glared softly back.
“You know what - no give me the Spider-man Strawberry blast.” he quipped causing Peter to only roll his eyes at him, failing to hide his blush.
It wasn’t until they started entering Queens. People became less apparent, and Peter didn’t mind, already enjoying his treat. He looked up at Tony, realizing the man was staring at him, and shrugged at him, asking what was up.
Tony looked straight ahead as he ate another piece of his frozen ice cream, pushing his glasses up.
“I’ve never seen you more lively Parker… And I like it.” He said with a smile, pursing his lips.
“How are you feeling about this?"
Peter looked down to the floor, signing slowly as he avoided eye contact, as well as not wanting to drop his ice cream. “I like it. I didn’t remember it being like this…”
He paused before he gulped, shoving his nervousness away, “I like your voice.”
The teen didn’t have the guts to look back up. He felt his face flush in embarrassment. He shoved down a piece of his treat down his throat, feeling ashamed for telling him that.
Yet the man only hummed, his voice sounding much softer, “Thanks…”
The boy clutched the small presents in his hands, feeling his breath come in and out rapidly in nervousness. He felt his aunt’s hand pat reassuringly against his back, and he smiled softly at her, silently thanking for the small gesture.
The elevator door opened up to the private living room, and Peter grinned at how the floor was finished. Lights filled the whole room, as small decorations hung in random places in the living room. The boy couldn’t contain his excitement, and he quickly ran into the room, turning around multiple times to try and catch every little detail.
He heard May laugh behind him, causing Peter to consciously tap his aids, making sure they were set properly. The boy smiled and quickly noticed Tony and Pepper both staring at him from the couches, as well as Happy and Rhodes-
He stopped and stared back at the man who was wearing braces. His mouth dropped open as he quickly set the boxes on the counter. “Oh my God, you’re War Machine.” He signed out, his hands slightly shaking as he heard his narrator speak for him.
Rhodey only laughed, smiling a Tony, “Oh man he looks so much like you when you were younger.”
Tony’s smirk dropped as his eyes narrowed at him, “I wasn’t that small-”
“Oh yes, you were.”
Peter only blushed as he saw the two men continue to fight. Both May and Pepper were laughing at the scene as Happy started recording everything that was happening.
Peter loved this. He loved hearing the joyous laughter ringing out in the tower. He loved feeling the loving aura that passed by the small family.
He smiled, yes they were family, by everything but blood. He loved it.
His eyes locked onto the large tree in the room, which held many precious and probably expensive glass ornaments. Popcorn strings hung loosely on the branches, as white lights flicked on and off, holding a silver four-pointed star at the top.
Peter let out a laugh, one in which he actually heard himself this time. The others stopped arguing, realizing what had just happened. The boy looked up and smiled cheekily, “ Just- really happy. That’s all.”
Even as his hands were being settled back onto his side, he didn’t see any of their smiles vanish from their faces.
It wasn’t until much later when they were cleaning up their plates was when a small accident happened. It was something Peter didn’t expect to happen, but he… didn’t hate it. He was just surprised by it.
The teen waited beside the couch as the rest were setting their plates away. It was at the moment he decided to look up, and he realized there was a mistletoe hanging just above him.
He looked around to see Pepper walking up to Rhodey and Happy. May was placing one of the last plates in the washer as Tony was already walking towards his way.
He smirked.
He knew his mentor would be walking up to him, probably just to talk as they wait for May before opening the presents. But he also knew Pepper was just in arms reach. Peter mentally noted how long he had to stretch to pull Pepper in under the mistletoe before he faced to Tony, who seemed oblivious to the whole situation.
“Kid is everything alright?” Tony asked with a smile. Peter only continued to go through his plan, grabbing Pepper by her arm tugging her in place. She gasped and was about to ask what was wrong, only to look up, Tony following.
By the time the two adults locked eyes with each other again, everyone was already staring. Pepper quickly sent a soft glare to the teen, before Tony pulled her in for a kiss, causing May to smile at them, while the other two just decided to grin.
Peter smiled as well, feeling proud that his plan had worked. Pepper broke from the kiss first, slightly knocking the boy’s head at the plan, he only let out a breathy snort.
May started to tell everyone to go over to the tree, and everyone complied. Yet Peter felt a hand around his wrist, pulling him back.
He turned around with a raised eyebrow, seeing Tony hadn’t moved from his place.
There was a fond smile on the man’s lips, and before Peter could sign to him what was up, he saw the man leaned down slightly, placing a quick kiss on his forehead before patting his back, following the others.
The teen stood there in shock, feeling heat rise up to his cheeks. He slowly looked back up, seeing the white berries hanging from the thin piece of string.
He felt a powerful wave of emotion course through him, causing a few tears to spring free. Peter guessed he stood there for a solid minute before his aunt started calling him over to the presents. He silently wiped his eyes before he turned around, walking over to the rest of the group.
His eyes looked over to the billionaire, who was talking to his military friend. His eyes locked onto one of his hands, who was patting the empty space beside him. The boy understood the silent message and quietly sat down next to Tony, who then placed his calloused hand over his shoulders.
Peter smiled, leaning into the touch.
Happy was chosen to go first, he opened his batch of presents, and Peter would have never guessed to see Happy so… happy.
He had received a new pair of sunglasses from Tony after the billionaire realized they were getting scratched due to the many times he had to push the crowd away from Tony. He also received a hand-knitted scarf from May, which he promptly put on. There was a new black customized suit from Pepper, as well as a set of Bluetooth earbuds from Rhodey.
Peter didn’t think his present would have meant that much for the man, but he did seem to be very happy about it.
It was a small journal. Peter found out by mistake one day. He entered the car a bit to quietly just to see Happy writing done on an old notebook, it was then he realized he liked writing.
He received a soft thank you from the man, and Peter couldn’t help but sign a “no problem” back to him.
Rhodey was next. From both May and Pepper, he received a designed blanket made by the both of them. Tony’s was a long list of upgrades that were being settled in for his braces, one which included much more flexibility, making him laugh out in joy. Happy gave him a vintage pocket knife, which caused Rhodes to start freaking out on where he found this exact design.
That's how the rest of their time went on, he saw May being overjoyed at the new job offer Tony had given her, while Pepper kissed her fiance on the cheek after seeing the personalized necklace, containing both of their names.
When it was Tony’s turn, the first few presents were both mostly for laughs, yet the billionaire treasured them anyways. One was a mug from Rhodey, which had the words “The Most Annoying Person on the planet.” written on the side.
Happy’s was just an Ironman bobblehead, which caused him to roll his eyes, yet he couldn’t hide his smirk, everyone knowing his driver just fed his ego.
Pepper’s was a long loving card, as well as a small stuffed rabbit holding the card open. Tony smiled at her, realizing she didn’t forget her grand gift from those many years ago.
Peter nervously twitched as he saw Tony place the rabbit down, facing over to him. The teen blushed slightly, setting the box onto the man’s hands. His mentor gave him a reassuring smile, tearing through the messy wrapping paper.
His eyes softened.
The man held out a picture frame, his lips curving up slightly as his eyes crinkled with affection. It was just a photo from the day Dum-E decided to spray them both with the fire extinguisher, from being spread all over the room- including themselves.
He was about to say thank you to Peter before he felt his fingers brush against the back of the frame. He turned it around, seeing a small note with the boy’s messy yet readable handwriting.
Tony looked up to the group, and then to Peter, silently asking for permission. The boy blushed yet reluctantly nodded, facing away from the man. Tony cleared his throat.
Dear Mr. Stark.
I know my present isn’t the most expensive, or not the nicest looking, but it was what I could do on my own. I always remembered my parents treasuring many photos of ourselves, and they always told me that memories would last forever in the hearts of people.
So that's what I decided to do. I wish I could speak like others- I wish I had the courage to try. So I’m sorry for not being able to do anything else. But, this is what I could do for now.
Thank you for anything you decide to give to me on Christmas day. Thank you for the internship and thank you for giving my hearing back. Thank you for giving me the suit, and thank you for saving my life on that day, if not I wouldn’t be here with you now.
I don’t regret any moment with you so far, and I’m only excited to create more memories with you. You’ve made my life a whole lot better, and I really can’t thank you enough for that. Thank you for being my mentor, for giving me a chance.
Sincerely
Your Underoos…
Tony felt his eyes water up, and he quickly put down the picture frame and grabbed Peter by his bicep, pulling him into a hug. The boy’s eyes started to water as well, and he wrapped his own skinnier arms around the man’s back, feeling his hand tug across his curls.
Peter immediately melted in the embrace, sighing softly as his nerves posed away, feeling a painful squeeze go trough his check. It was the good type of pain though.
After a few moments of everyone gushing upon the scene, it was finally Peter’s turn.
He received a new camera from Happy, and as well as a star chart from Rhodey. He couldn’t help but sign quickly on how much he always wanted these things ever since he was small.
Pepper gave him a new coat, which he was so surprised by how soft it felt. He also saw May sneaking in a few pictures as he was practically swimming in the new jacket.
May’s was a trip down memory lane. It was his old Ironman mask, and from what he could tell, she spent a lot of time fixing and covering the scrapes it received throughout the years. Peter beamed at her, signing a thank you at her.
The boy looked over to Tony, who was holding a small black box. Peter raised his eyebrows and quickly opened them up, seeing a pair of glasses that looked exactly like his mentor’s, he gasped.
It caused everyone to laugh apparently, due to the surprised expression he was making. Tony chuckled as he saw the boy set the glasses on, realizing it was slightly big for his face, but Peter didn’t seem to mind, he didn’t seem to mind at all.
Tony mentally noted to tell Peter about the EDITH design later, he didn’t think it would be a proper conversation to have at the moment.
Everyone was starting to get ready to head up to watch a movie in the theater room, yet Tony grabbed Peter’s wrist, telling him to wait for a moment. Once everyone left the room, the man led him to the balcony, which Peter smiled to see the bright city lights as the crisp air brushed against him.
“Kid… um, I have, one more thing to give you.”
Peter looked to the man, “ What it is?” He signed, staring at Tony curiously.
The man smiled and slowly reached for his hearing aids. He stayed still, feeling slight nervousness course through him as he felt his fingers brush against his ears, hearing the sound around him dull into nothing. The boy blinked and looked at the man, not knowing what was going on.
Tony seemed to breathe in deeply, before he raised his hands, gulping.
He signed.
“So, I’m still learning, but-” He took a quick breather, Peter couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief, realizing the man had learned sign language. The man continued.
“I know, I’m not the best for emotions bud, but I just want to say Thank you for everything you’ve done to change my life…
Thank you kid, thank you… I…”
Peter blinked, realizing tears were starting to stream down his face. He smiled sadly and raised his own hands, “ I love you too.”
It was at that moment the teen had realized how much Tony had focused on learning his sign language, just for Peter. He realized how much the man still wanted to learn, quietly whispering him questions on if he was doing his hand motions correctly throughout the movie.
Tony, was learning for him.
So the next day when he came back home from his Christmas weekend, he quickly video chatted Ned and MJ. It was pretty early in the morning, luckily Michelle was already up, but Ned seemed to be grumpy about waking up.
“Loser- why are you calling at this early-?” Mj questioned, raising her eyebrow. Peter shakily raised his hands, breathing in nervously. It caused both of them to look at him worriedly.
“Peter?” Ned asked quietly.
The teen signed, “Can you like- write a notebook of how to pronounce words?”
The two blinked back at him weirdly, “What are you saying?”
The teen started shaking. It was a scary thought, it was so frightening and it made his heart wanted to burst in pieces just to think of the stress of learning. But if Tony could learn a new way of communicating…
Maybe Peter could too.
“I want to learn how to speak again.”
It was a regular lab day again, or at least that's how it started. Peter clutched his hands as they shook silently, his eyes peering over to the man working and back to his own project. He sighed nervously, seeing his phone buzz with a text from his aunt.
May: Have you done it yet?
He told May about his plan… Well- he signed through it until he managed to form a whispered husked noise coming from his voice, saying “thank you” to her, It caused her to break down in tears, so much she started laughing hysterically.
It felt weird to feel and hear his own voice again. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel. Yet, being frightened seemed to be the most prominent sensation.
Peter looked over to the left of his desk. A notebook containing many pronunciations was laid open. He silently flipped through the written pages, silently praying this would go well.
“Pete, you’re alright there bud?”
Tony looked up from his work, sending a smile. The boy smiled back, nodding, only for his stomach to interrupt him. The man chuckled and looked up, asking for Friday to order some more pizza for the two of them.
They both found themselves on the couch, eating the large slices of New York pizza, the strong aroma filling the room. They were watching another Star Wars film, and he couldn’t help but feel as if the man was going to start getting annoyed by watching the films over and over again. But Tony only held a fond smile on his face, continuing to eat his slice of greasy pizza.
Peter breathed, this would be it, it would be a great time now.
He quietly reached over for the remote, lowering down the volume to zero. His mentor looked over to him, swallowing down the piece he had in his mouth, “What? Starting to get sick of your movies now?” He joked.
The boy smiled, shaking his head, setting his slice down. He took a deep breath as Tony’s face slowly morphed into a worried look, the man frowned, not knowing what was happening.
Peter quickly signed, “So. I have a confession to make.” He slowly gestured out. The man nodded, waving his hand at him to continue.
The teen nervously continued, “I love you… like a lot Mr. Stark…” Peter didn’t really know why he was starting out with that, but he already gestured it, so he moved in quickly.
“Ever since the Christmas party… I… I didn’t think that you would learn sign language for me…” He confessed, seeing the billionaire’s eyes soften.
“I… I felt overwhelmed that day… I didn’t realize how much you… became a father figure for me…”
Peter looked up hesitantly, “If that’s ok anyways-”
Tony cut him off, “Of course that’s ok Pete… I’m… honored.” He said with a smile, before he chuckled out, grasping the kid's shoulders, “And if that’s what you think- quit it with the Mr. Stark, it’s just Tony.”
The boy’s heart leaped into his throat. That wasn’t part of his plan. He rubbed his hands together, raising them up once more, “Can you say your name again? Just… slowly.”
The man raised his eyebrow in question, “Tony?” He said slowly, watching Peter’s head nod up and down. He said his name once more, causing Peter to close his eyes, seemingly thinking hard.
It was a long minute of complete silence between the two of them, and Tony patiently watched, letting the boy do whatever he was planning.
Once he saw him open his eyes again, he raised his head up, signing out quickly, “Tell me if I do something wrong… I’m trying.” He said with a smile. Tony only tilted his head in confusion.
His hands slowly settled down onto his knees, clutching his jeans. The man quickly placed a hand down over the teen’s own, rubbing his knuckles. “Pete?”
Peter breathed, slowly opening his mouth,
“T-T-Tha-Thank yo-ou T-Tion-e…?”
The man didn’t mind he pronounced his name slightly off, the man didn’t care how soft and weak his voice sounded. He didn’t care about how shaky and small he currently sounded… He could only treasure the fact that… He made sound… Sound so precious to his ears.
“Oh my God kid-”
He engulfed Peter into a hug, causing the boy to gasp when the man abruptly stood up, bringing Peter with him. The boy smiled, a blush appearing on his cheeks. He felt wetness pool against his curls, he shuddered, realizing the man was crying.
“T-Tion-e?”
The man laughed and quickly pushed him back gently, causing his eyes to lock with his, Peter saw the glassiness, and couldn't help but think he did something wrong. Tony only smiled wider, nodding his head at him,
“Try again kiddo- Toh-nee. Tony.” He said slowly, repeating his name over and over again, letting the boy decide whether or not he was ready to try again.
The boy swallowed thickly, looking a bit ashamed. Yet Tony only shook his head, his smile never disappearing, “It’s fine It’s fine! You can try again.” He said, looking hopefully at Peter.
The boy nodded shakily, taking a deep breath.
“T-Ton-y? T-Tony?”
The man laughed once again, “Yeah you got it kid- oh my God-”
Peter couldn’t stop him from laughing, he couldn’t stop the man from smiling and hugging him over and over again. It was then that Peter realized how sound was so precious to people, how sound could literally flip anyone's life over.
“I-I made s-sond- s-sound?”
Stark nodded his head against the boy’s curls, Peter feeling his goatee scratch against his scalp, “Yeah kid, you did. You made sound!” He said in glee, squeezing Peter into a much tighter hug.
The boy let out a choked giggle, resting his head on the man’s broad shoulder. He couldn’t stop his nervous jitters from shaking his body, but he didn’t think the man really cared.
”T-Ton-y?”
He heard the man gasp again, patting his back, “Yeah-? Wait doesn’t that hurt you?” He asked, tilting his head. Peter couldn’t help but smile at the concerned look he held.
”N-Not Reell-e?” He stuttered out, not sure if he was pronouncing the words correctly.
Yet no matter what, the man understood, and he nodded his head. “Ok- if you’re sure. Anyways what kiddo?” He said quickly, unable to contain his own excitement.
Peter chuckled, swallowing down thick saliva, “Can yo-ou teach me-? Ned a-nd MJ h-helped a-a bit. B-B-B-“
He groaned, starting to feel a bit frustrated with himself. Tony pulled back and looked at him with caution, a kind smile on his lips.
“Don’t strain yourself kiddo, it’s fine.”
Peter shook his head, he planned- he practiced- he had waited for so long for this moment. And he could barely keep up his voice for long, he wanted to talk more.
”N-N-N-No-”
“Kid look at me.”
The teen looked up, some tears of frustration started to slip down his cheeks. Tony only shook his head fondly, squeezing one of his wrists.
”Take it slow. No ones rushing you. Be proud at what you just did Pete ok? I’m so proud- so proud and happy of you.” He said slowly to him, hoping the teen would catch and hold onto his words.
Peter blinked before he reluctantly nodded, showing a sad smile to the man. Tony didn’t take that as a complete yes. He twisted his lips in thought before he pulled away from Peter, clapping his hands together.
”Here- Let’s do this.”
The boy raised an eyebrow, letting the man tug him along back to the desks. He pulled out Peter’s chair and slid it next to his, gesturing for him to sit down.
”You, teach me how so sign correctly, and then we take a break so I can teach you how to pronounce words. We can take breaks in between so we don’t strain your voice- alright?”
Peter thought for a moment before he nodded, smiling softly at the man. “O-O-Ok.”
Tony smiled back, patting the boy’s back. He raised his hands in front of Peter. “Ok, So start with letters?”
The boy giggled at his mentors stiff movements, “Yeah.”
Peter closed his locker, quickly catching up with Ned and MJ as they left the school grounds, waiting for their parents to pick them up.
MJ turned around, raising her eyebrow, “So did you do it loser?”
The teen sighed and smiled softly at her, “Y-Yeah.” he whispered.
At that moment, Ned turned around in shock, MJ’s eyes widened like saucers, before they both engulfed him into a hug, congratulating him. Peter has never felt so loved.
A honk interrupted their moment, causing the young hero to look up from his friends. He saw Tony’s Audi parker in the center of the pickup lane, and the boy only shook his head.
He waved goodbye to Ned and MJ before he rushed to the car, opening the door and slinging his backpack in. The car drove off immediately, he was already feeling excited about the lab day.
“So Underoos- had an ok day?- no Flash bugging you right?” Tony said cautiously, eyes squinting in frustration. Peter shook his head, rolling his eyes at the overprotective gesture. He couldn't help but mentally smile at it.
He looked over to his left, seeing a young boy sitting on top of his father's shoulders, both of them smiling as they crossed the street. Peter pressed his lips together before he quivered them open.
“D-Dad?”
The car slightly jerked, and Peter blinked at the man. The billionaire pushed his glasses up, failing to hide his smirk. Peter quickly started laughing, seeing the very surprised expression in the man’s eyes.
He drove up to the right lane and turned, “Yeah? What kid?”
Peter smirked back, “J-Just t-testing my vo-oice.” He husked out.
Tony frowned, “You little piece of shit-”
The teen laughed...