Work Text:
"Why the hell do you have a black eye and why the hell are your knuckles all bloody?"
Peter doesn't answer Tony, only stares across the school hallway, clenching and unclenching his hands. His face is absolutely livid, his eyes full of an anger that Tony has never seen before and can't quite place at the moment.
Tony doesn't know what to think, all he knows is that he got a call in the middle of the day letting him know that his kid got into a fight.
"Peter?"
The boy almost flinches at his own name, his father usually always uses nicknames with him. Only using his full name in serious situations or when he's really mad. Now, the young genius assumes it's the latter.
Though, he still doesn't answers Tony, only adverts his gaze over to the left where he can see kids rushing off to class. He focuses on them instead of the intense amount of guilt he's feeling since his dad had to come get him.
This is the first time Tony notices that there are tears that gloss the teens eyes and that the rims of his eyes are lined in red. Like he was crying.
The man takes a step back, his mouth that had been hanging open in disbelief now snaps shut, his jaw clicking. He clears his throat sort of awkwardly and walks away from his son and into the principals office.
Tony takes in the beige and white walls, with nothing hanging on them. He also tries not to pay too much attention to the fact that Mrs. Thompson is staring daggers at him.
"Hello, Mr. Stark. Sorry to bother you." Ms. Smith smiles apologetically. "It appears Flash and Peter had a little mishap today."
"Yeah, a mishap which your son started and resulted in me having to leave my job to come pick my kid up from school." Mrs. Thompson spits out under her breath, then she speaks louder. "Can we go now?"
"Of course, ma'am." Principal Smith confirms, her expression narrowed at the woman as she leaves. Then she turns to Tony and musters a smile. "I'm sorry for making you come in. I know you have a busy schedule."
"It's no problem at all." Tony returns the smile.
He spins on his heels and leaves the small office, walking back over to his kid that now sits across from Flash who has his mom whisper yelling at him.
Tony rolls his eyes and puts a hand on Peter's shoulder, pulling him up from his seat and leading him out to the parking lot. They walk in complete and utter silence to the car, both parting ways for a moment to get into their own sides.
After a few minutes of just listening to the quiet radio the former playboy can't handle the tension anymore and turns it all the way off, eyeing Peter.
"You need to talk to me. I need to know what happened in order to know how badly I have to punish you. Like, say, two weeks, no Spider-Man? Five weeks? Seven? Ten months? A year? Or is a year pushing it a little? I never know, my dad always just gave me a good smack so you've gotta give me some pointers here."
Peter only looks down at his bruised hands, wincing as he looks at how badly they're banged up. He then reaches up to feel his swollen and bruising eye with careful fingers, feeling it pulse.
"Nope, not doing this." Tony looks sharply over at his kid. "You do not get to give me the silent treatment right now."
"I'm not." Peter speaks up for the first time. "I just don't have anything to say."
"Ha!" Tony exclaims over dramatically. "You punch a kid in the face and don't have anything to say about it? You can't be serious, Peter."
The boy ignores Tony and neither one of them speak again for the rest of the ride home.
______________
"How's your eye feeling?"
Peter holds the ice pack more tightly and tensely against his face as Tony walks into the dinning room and sits across from his kid. He smiles a half smile at the young child in hopes he'll actually talk to him this time instead of just closing himself off.
"Fine."
"And the rest of your injuries that I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you have?" Tony questions, his voice still cheery.
"Also fine." Peter pulls the ice pack away and places it gently on the table, his eyes studying the table as he thinks of something else he could say.
He looks up at Tony, desperately wanting to tell him the truth but not knowing if it'll make things even worse. His knees bounce up and down as he forces himself to continue looking his father right in the eyes.
After a while it becomes too much and he has to look away as water fills up his eyes, blurring his vision when he refuses to let them fall. Heart leaping in his throat, Peter sniffs in attempt to get his emotions to go away.
It doesn't work.
"Come on, bubba." Tony's voice is so soft now, so different than before when he was mad. The young superhero can tell that the man just wants to know what's wrong at this point. Because Peter hasn't really tried to hide the fact that somethings upsetting him. "Talk to me."
"I-I . . ." His voice is thick with feelings he's now just letting flow out. "I just got-got so m-mad. I really didn't mean to-to do it. Well, I-I did mean to do it. But, I didn't know it would-would happen. I-I didn't plan on it." He runs a hand through his hair, tugging at it a little too hard. "Before I knew what I was doing I-- it all happened so fast. One minute Flash was-was and then the next-next minute he's laying on the ground with-with a look that-that could kill on his-his face. And that's how-how the fight-- that's how it-it started."
"What did--?" Tony tries gently, resisting the urge to go wipe the tears from Peter's face. "What did he say or do exactly?"
"I-I . . ." Peter stammers, still not able to meet his fathers gaze, his expression ashamed. "MJ and-and I were w-walking down the-the hall and-and holding h-hands and-and Flash j-just came up-up to us and w-was like 'I th-thought you said-said you w-were gay, Penis! Or-Or what w-was that st-stupid thing you c-called it? Bisexual? Ha! W-What a joke! Now you're-you're h-here dating a g-girl! You-You just wanted a-attention! It-It was all a phase, w-wasn't it?' And he-he s-said more things about-about me b-being attracted to-to anything that m-moves and-and being g-greedy."
He pauses to take in a deep, shaky breath.
"Th-That's when I-when I hit him." Peter blubbers, sobbing in between each word. "I didn't m-mean to get-get so mad it's just that-- I don't-I don't know. That's exactly w-what I used to-to t-tell myself. I don't kn-know if it's b-because I have-have a preference for women or because of-of all the d-damn homophobia in-in this w-world but I-I just always t-told myself it's not true. That I-I wasn't bi and-and that I-I just wanted to-to feel s-special and to get-get attention. And that I-I was broken or-or that s-something was wrong w-with me. And-And to h-have Flash say all-all that shit to-to me today it-it just brought back-- it brought back all th-those feelings again."
Tony practically jumps up from his seat, racing around the table and pulling his now sobbing and hiccuping kid into his arms.
"Whoa, honey, whoa." He soothes, rubbing a hand up and down Peters back as the other one goes to lovingly brush his hair. "It's okay, baby. Don't worry about it." Peter presses his face into Tony's shoulder, ignoring the throbbing feeling in his eye. "I gotcha, I gotcha. Breathe, il mio cuore. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I love you so much. I'm so so sorry, angelo."
"I shouldn't have-have punched him. I know that I-I shouldn't of b-but I was so mad." Peter stumbles over his words. "And I-I know that's n-not an excuse b-but I-I wasn't th-thinking. I'm s-so sorry, Dad."
"Don't say that. Don't say sorry." Tony whispers, pressing a light kiss on Peter's temple. "It's not your fault he's an asshole. I just wish I could have been there sooner." Peter sobs louder and harder and Tony just starts to rock them back and forth. "Okay, alright. Shh, shh, shh. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be fine. You are bisexual. And nothing anyone says can change that. It's real and it's who you are."
They stay frozen like that for a few moments, Peter letting out all the emotions that have been pent up since he came out. He hasn't told anyone about all the things he was feeling -- and still sometimes does experience -- and it feels so good to finally tell the truth. Especially since Tony's being so good about it.
"I love you so much."
"Love you too, Dad."
They pull away, an arm still pulling Peter tightly into Tony's side. Both of them stay like that, in silence for probably twenty minutes before Rhodey, Bucky, Steve, Maria, Sam, Thor, Clint and Natasha come rushing into the room, heading stumbling for the fridge.
"What happened to Spider-Boy?" Sam questions in a teasing tone, though there is some worry in it.
"Got into a fight with a homophobe." Tony mumbles against the top of Peter's head.
"Did you get some good punches in?" Clint asks right away, his face -- along with his tone -- serious.
"We should show you some new moves that could improve your skills." Natasha suddenly sounds giddy with excitement.
Peter laughs a pained laugh as his family starts discussing fighting moves. Though tears still fall down his face, he feels way better than he did before he told Tony about everything. Lighter. Like a big weight has been lifted off of his shoulders and he can finally breathe.
"I'm gonna talk to your principal." Tony tells him quietly. "I don't want this to ever happen to you again."
"Okay, Dad." Peter agrees, closing his eyes and relaxing into Tony's hold.