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Peter had a catastrophically bad day, he woke up late, had a row with May about Spider-Man (for the 100th time) and Flash had been even worse for some reason. By lunch time Peter was ready to give up, go to bed and wake up the next day with the hope that everything would be better.
It was like the minute Flash saw Peter that day he had it in for him just because Peter existed. Normally Peter could handle it but it was far worse than normal. It started off with the usual taunts and calling him, rather childishly, 'Penis Parker'- seriously how old is he? Then it escalated to comments about him lying about his internship, being a desperate attention seeker, to comments about his parents and saying that they never loved him and it's better that they're gone so they don't see their failure of a son all grown up. The final straw was when they blamed him for Ben's death- saying it must have been his fault and he probably deliberately got himself shot to get away from Peter. It took all of his strength not to retaliate. He just walked away, ignoring further taunts hurled at him and Ned as he called after him to check if he was okay.
When he gets to the Tower, Tony can tell something is wrong almost straight away. Normally when Peter gets there he's instantly rambling about something that happened that day before quickly moving onto something else whilst Tony tries to keep up with everything Peter is telling him. It worries him that Peter is so quiet. After about an hour of a deafening silence Tony tries to get Peter to open up, he's an expert at bottling things up and knows just how unhealthy that is- he doesn't want Peter to do the same, that is one similarity he doesn't want the two of them to have.
"Pete, is everything okay? Normally you don't stop talking and now I can't get a word out of you. I'm worried." Tony said with concern lacing his voice- this really was unlike Peter.
He did consider lying, but knew there was no way the genius would fall for it. Everything was just too much. Peter shook his head before turning to face Tony with tears in his eyes.
"What's the matter Underoos?" Tony asked softly.
"Today's been awful. I woke up late which caused another row with May about patrolling, then at school Flash was bullying me again. I mean usually I can deal with it but he was just awful today. He kept saying about my parents, and Ben- how it's better off that they're gone so they don't see how much of a disappointment I am and that Ben deliberately got himself shot so he didn't have to live with me any more." Peter vented, crying by the time he had finished speaking.
"Pete none of that is true. You are truly amazing, your parents and Ben loved you so much and they would be proud of you- just like I am. This Flash kid is wrong for what he said and as for May, she's just worried about you and she won't stay mad for long kid, she loves you." Tony said calmly, trying to comfort Peter- despite feeling anything but calm upon hearing that someone had been bullying his kid, but that's something he'll address tomorrow as he didn't think it would be fair to bring that up right now.
"Thanks Mr Stark." Peter mumbled in response as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Come here kid." Tony said as he put his arms out. Peter didn't hesitate before hugging Tony, he really needed the comfort.
"You're truly amazing, kid. If anyone says otherwise then they are wrong." Tony whispered comfortingly as the two of them hugged, the first real hug they'd had. Peter pulled out of the hug first, apologizing to Tony about crying onto his expensive jacket, to which Tony responded that he didn't care and joking that he had plenty of money to replace it anyway.
"How about we call it quits? I'll phone May and tell her you're staying here and we'll watch Star Wars and order a pizza, sound good?" Tony asks.
"Sounds great da- Mr Stark." Peter responded, hoping that he managed to cover up the fact he almost called Tony dad, which he failed to as Tony noticed, barely hiding his smile. The rest of the night was spent watching Star Wars- Peter has lost count the amount he has watched those movies- until the two fell asleep on the couch, Peter's head rested on Tony's shoulder. Pepper made sure to take several photos of the two.