Chapter Text
«ready?» steve asked as he patted peter’s knee. the blonde was crouching in front of the teenager who was sitting on the couch in the living room of tony’s apartment.
they were both dressed in black suits, white shirts and black ties. rain was pouring down outside, seemingly the exact mood it needed be that day. peter hadn’t slept at all and now he wished the day was over already. he wouldn’t have to speak at may’s funeral thankfully, but despite that relief, he felt immense guilt for not doing so.
“tony’s waiting in the car, should I go down there and wait with him? do you need some time?” steve was a bit concerned about the boy: he hadn’t eaten a proper meal ever since may had died four days before. but he hadn’t cried since that first night either, and he wasn’t talking about things, and he was laughing at jokes like normal.
“no I’ll come with you,” peter said and got up when steve did, who put a hand on his shoulder and guided him to the elevator.
after the funeral, tony took steve and peter to a nice restaurant at the seaside on staten island. peter was starting to feel homey around the too. tony had sat on his right, holding the teenager’s hand while steve had sat on his right and placed a hand on peter’s thigh.
peter’s classmates hadn’t seen. they’d all come and sat together at the very back of the church, none of them saying a word the whole ceremony.
they had offered peter their condolences when everyone had mostly left and peter was waiting for steve to say he could go too. mj hugged peter really tight and the boy asked her to come over the next day, and aside from thanking everyone for feeling sorry for him, that was the most he spoke that day.
peter pushed around the mac and cheese with his fork while steve and tony ate quietly. the silence was killing the teenager.
“can we please talk about something?” he asked in a stern voice.
“sure peter,” tony said calmly. “what’s on your mind?”
the teenager stared blankly into nothing. “I don’t know,” peter said in a frustrated tone. “I just can’t stand this silence and all of you treating me like china.”
“hey steve, why don’t you take peter outside and I’ll have this packed up and meet you at the beach?” tony suggested because he knew peter needed to blow off steam, but also that he would never do it inside a restaurant.
once the two were standing by the water, peter looked at steve with glossy eyes rimmed blue from lack of sleep.
“what’s going on peter?” the man had refrained from asking that question for a while because he hadn’t deemed it appropriate, but after the little outburst at the restaurant, he’d figured he should. “is this even about may?” the question was risky but it had come to steve’s mind because peter had told him he had been mourning all along, and that he would be glad when it was over; may’s suffering and his uncertainty of the future.
“no,” the kid said and sat down in the sand, steve following suit. “when I was on patrol on monday, I heard a short scream from an apartment. I broke in and there was this girl on the bed, being raped by a middle aged fat man.” Peter shifted and pulled his knees up against his chest. “I got so angry, I threw him against a wall and he passed out.”
peter took a short break from telling his story while steve just sat with him, not saying anything. “the girl thanked me and got dressed and then she went over to a drawer and filled a bag with tiny aluminium foil squares and a stash of cash. I told her to go home but she said she lived with the man, he was her punter.”
steve swallowed hard. “how old would you say she was?”
peter looked up at him. “that’s the thing, she was probably no older than fourteen. anyway, she ran out with this whole bag full of cash and heroin and I think I made a mistake.”
the blond looked behind them and saw tony approaching, so he excused himself and explained the whole thing to the man as quickly as he could. tony sat down next to peter and patted his shoulder.
“none of us would’ve known what to do,” the man assured. “she’ll find a place to stay.”
“yeah, with another punter,” peter mumbled. “I should have taken her somewhere, I shouldn’t have let her run off with all that. she’s just a kid.”
“yes, and so are you peter. you’ll notice that there’s not a solution for everything, and some things require more than just a neighbourhood hero to fix.”
“I know, that’s what the fucking problem is,” peter hissed and both steve and tony backed away.
then it was quiet for a while. “I’m sorry,” the teenager apologized and his face hardened. “there’s just been too many problems I couldn’t fix lately.”
oh, this sounded familiar to something tony had learned on mental illness. if peter were to attribute everything that was going wrong in his life to his own unchangeable traits, he would be on a slippery downward slope towards depression. “peter, I think it’s time we get you a therapist.”
“maybe.” and that’s how the two men knew that something was really wrong, because peter had stopped fighting it; he had himself accepted he needed help. “addiction is confusing nonetheless.”
“I know,” tony assured. “do some research, read biographies. it’ll help.”
there were six weeks of summer break left, giving peter a chance to get out of his mind before his very important junior year of high school. and actually, things were good: he had a girlfriend, adults who took care of him and he would get help. it would be okay.