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Peter was strong. Not just physically, but mentally strong. He had experienced more in his 15 years than many adults would in their lifetime. Peter lost his parents when he was a toddler, and he was bullied his whole adolescence. Not to mention that, a year ago a spider bite turned his world upside down. No one would argue that Peter wasn’t strong, but even he had his weaknesses. Specifically relating to one word: Einstein.
When Peter was ten, his Aunt May was always swamped with work. They were in a tight spot for money so May asked a college student in the apartment next door to watch over Peter on the days when she wasn’t home. His name was Skip.
At first, things went well. Peter loved Skip and saw him as a big brother, but then everything changed. One day, when May was working a double shift at work, Skip came over acting differently. He began asking Peter to do things that made him uncomfortable. He tried to refuse but Skip kept asking. Peter didn’t want to upset Skip so he gritted his teeth and bared it. When Aunt May finally returned home, Skip had already left. Peter broke down and told her everything between weak sobs. He felt dirty and disgusted with himself but Aunt May held him tight and repeated over and over again that he wasn’t dirty at all.
Peter and May moved out of their apartment and he never saw Skip again. For about two years after the incident, Peter saw a therapist once a week as he slowly began to recover. In those two years there were many sleepless nights and panic attacks but Peter was tough as nails. He made it through even the hardest moments with the help of his Aunt.
Despite his progress, even to this day, certain things triggered the memory of Skip. The most common one was people touching him unexpectedly, for obvious reasons. Another was the word Einstein. That was simply because Skip used to call him Einstein whenever he helped Peter with his homework. Thankfully, most of the important people in his life knew generally about what happened and made sure to never do anything to trigger Peter's trauma.
The only problem was that recently Peter had been spending most of his free time with Tony in the lab. Tony didn’t know about Skip because recently Skip hadn’t been on Peter's mind at all. He had been doing so well that he didn’t even think of telling Tony about what happened five years ago.
He, of course, grew to regret this.
—
One day, after school Peter was in the lab with Tony working on some upgrades to Peter's Spider-Man suit. The two’s relationship had grown past that of a simple mentor mentee relationship and had blossomed into something paternal. Although Peter didn’t call Tony dad aloud, he did think of the billionaire as his father.
Peter was currently hunched over the lab table, tweaking his webshooters when Tony came up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. Peter flinched a little, the image of Skip flashing in his mind before he shoved it back down. This was Tony. Tony would never hurt him.
“Hey kid. Have you fixed the jamming problem yet?” Tony didn’t seem to notice Peter's brief unease and smiled an easy grin down at the teen.
Peter smiled back. “Yep. It seemed like the firing mechanism was just a little too small. I sized it up which should stop the jam.”
Tony whistled and gave Peter a pat on the back. “Nice one Pete, or should I say Enstine.”
Peter instantly tensed. It was a simple joke, one word, but it sounded every alarm in Peter's body. Instantly, he jolted up out of his seat and put some distance between him and Tony.
Tony furrowed his eyebrows. The hand that had been resting on Peter's back now hung confused in the air. “You ok kiddo?”
Peter barely even registered the words. He took another step back. All of a sudden he was ten years old again back in that apartment. Back with Skip.
“Good job Einstein, we're almost done. See that wasn’t so bad was it?” Skips disgusting words flashed through Peter's mind. He quickly covered his ears with his hands to try to will them away.
“No…No…” All of a sudden Peter wanted a shower. A nice, long, hot shower. A shower that would peel away his gross skin and bring forth a new, clean layer. A shower that would finally wash away the dirt Skip had left on him five years ago. Peter was yanked out of his thoughts by Tony’s voice.
“Kid are you ok?” Tony was in front of him in an instant with both hands outstretched.
Peter's breath hitched as he took a few deep breaths. “Da–I mean–Mr. Stark I…” Peter swallowed and took another moment to collect himself. “I’m sorry, I’m fine, I just remembered that I need to go home. Now.”
“Hold your horses, kid. You’re in no state to leave. Why don’t you sit down for a second and we can talk about this, ya?”
Peter’s lips tightened for a moment in a strained expression before he conceded. “O–Ok…” Peter moved to sit back down at the workshop.
Tony spared Peter a worried glance before he wordlessly drug a chair over to sit next to the teen. After a few beats of silence, Tony finally spoke. “You don’t have to tell me what happened just now but you do have to say if I did anything to cause it. I don’t want this happening to you again. Especially if it was something I did.”
Peter blinked away the tears forming in his eyes. He had calmed down considerably but he was still on edge. He hadn’t thought about Skip in such a long time that this felt like a bucket of cold water dumped on his head. “It’s not your fault. I just…” Peter sighed. “I don’t like being called Einstine…It brings up bad memories.”
Tony nodded. “Noted. I won't call you that again, bambino.” His reply made it seem like the simplest thing in the world.
Peter finally looked up at the man who had grown to be a father of sorts to him. “You really don’t wanna know why?” Peter assumed he would get the third degree after freaking out that much over one word but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.
Tony shrugged. “I want you to tell me whenever you want to tell me. That can be right now or it can be never. All I ask is that in the future you keep me updated on these things that bother you so I don’t unknowingly set off a landmine.”
Peter chuckled softly and the two shared a small smile. Peter then leaned over to rest his head on Tony’s shoulder. “I want to tell you…everything.”
Tony gingerly moved his hand to rub up and down Peters back. The two stayed like that for the whole afternoon as Peter explained everything. Tony listened intently with his hold on Peter only growing firmer as the teen spoke.
After Peter finished, Tony pressed a brief kiss to the boy's messy hair before thanking Peter for telling him.
“You’re the strongest kid in the world Pete.” Tony mumbled, voice firm and filled with love.
“I know.” Peter replied, eyes closed as he leaned against Tony’s Iron heart.