"You can't be serious. Please tell me you're joking," Peter said to Tony in shock.
"I'm nothing but serious, you're not going," Tony replies firmly.
"I can't believe you," Peter said, crossing his arms and shaking his head, "why can't I go to the concert?"
"Well let's see," Tony said, counting with his fingers as he listed reasons, "you still aren't in a good state of mind, you have been nothing but rude to me as of lately, and your room is a mess!"
"You're not my dad. In fact, you're nothing close to even being my friend!" Peter shouted, "why should I listen to you?"
"You don't have a choice," Tony said.
"I don't care what you say. I'm going. How am I supposed to get better if you won't let me do normal teenage things like going to a concert with my friend? Ned is going to pick me up in a couple of hours," Peter said.
"No he won't. Find something else. Maybe when you get a better attitude I'll consider letting you do something. Until then, you're starting here," Tony said calmly, "and don't try to leave, I'll have security make sure you don't."
Peter looked down. He remembered opening the present from Aunt May and being so happy to have gotten the tickets. How dare Tony not let him go. Tears welled up in his eyes.
"The tickets to the concert were Aunt May's birthday gift to me," Peter quietly said as tears slowly rolled down his cheeks.
Peter did a 180° turn around sharply, headed for his room. Tony instantly realized his mistake.
"Wait, Peter," Tony called out to him.
"Leave me alone. Never talk to me again," Peter stopped to say, then continued making a mad dash to his room.
Tony sighed. Peter would cool off. In the meantime, he was hungry. He made his way to the kitchen. When he got there, Steve was sitting down, eating leftovers.
"What happened this time?" Steve asked with his mouth full.
"I made a big mistake," Tony said, not even commenting on Steve talking with his mouth full.
Steve swallowed, "You're just now realizing that?" He said with a small laugh.
"I haven't done anything wrong until now. I don't regret any decision I've made," Tony said confidently.
"All right, tough guy. How did it all go down just a few minutes ago?" Steve asked, handing some leftovers to Tony.
"He wants to go to a concert with his friend."
"Great! Hopefully it's a step in the right direction."
"No, not great. He isn't going."
"Tony, tell me you aren't really gonna tell the kid he can't go."
"Why should he? He's been disrespectful, his room is a wreck, and he still isn't in a good condition."
"Sounds like a normal teenager to me. You're being way too hard on the kid. If he didn't do those things, I'd be afraid he's not human," Steve said.
"But—" Tony stopped.
He couldn't think of what to say. He really messed up. Steve was... right. That hurt to admit.
"So why was it a big mistake before I gave you this revelation?" Steve asked, taking a drink of water.
"Well, before he left... Peter told me that the tickets to the concert were a gift from his aunt," Tony said, being eaten by guilt.
"Are you serious?!" Steve said, almost spitting out his water.
"I didn't know until he said it!" Tony said in defense.
"You need to let him go to that concert."
Tony sighed.
"Yeah, I do need to let him go, don't I? He's still got time to get ready. I'll eat then go talk to him. That is, if he'll talk back."
"Good luck," Steve said, patting Tony's shoulder before leaving.
"Trust me, I'll need it," Tony said under his breath.
"Leave me alone. Never talk to me again."
Peter stormed off, somewhat hoping Tony would come after him. He didn't.
He made it to his room and slammed the door shut. He wondered how the door was still on it's hinges considering he slammed it so often. He locked the door.
Peter clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms. His eyes wandered to the pocketknife on his desk. He didn't want to do it... he couldn't give in again.
But the pain was too much. The voices in his head telling him he was useless got louder and louder. Finally, he went over to his desk and grabbed the knife.
Just a couple, Peter thought.
However, a couple turned into a few. A few turned into some, and some turned into multiple. The louder the voices, the deeper the cuts. And the voices got really loud.
After about 20 minutes, he was done. For all the cutting he did on his arms, not a lot of blood was on the floor. He threw a shirt over it, making a mental note to clean it later.
Peter went to wash the wounds, putting the water near boiling temperature, or at least that's how it felt. And it felt good. He turned it off, bandaging his arms.
He was so mad at Tony. He hated the name. Who was he to tell Peter what he could and couldn't do? Who does he think he is? Peter never asked to be taken in by him. Maybe his life would be so much better if Ned and his family took him in instead of Tony.
I'd just annoy them anyways, Peter thought.
Just as he finished bandaging, he heard a knock on his door. He quickly pulled the sleeves on his shirt down, covering the bandages. He waited until he heard a second knock to respond.
Once the person knocked again, he said a simple, "what?"
"Can I come in?" Peter heard someone say.
Not just someone, the most annoying, narcissistic, self-absorbed, careless, stupid person he could think of. Tony Stark.
"No, I told you to leave me alone," Peter said angrily.
"You and I both know that's not going to happen."
"Fine, don't leave me alone. Doesn't mean I won't ignore you."
"I thought you wanted to be a normal teenager, not a normal two-year-old."
Peter didn't respond.
Tony sighed, "look, kid. You can go to the concert. It took me a long time to realize it, but I see now that I've been way too hard on you. Can you please open the door so we can talk?"
Peter still didn't say anything. After a minute, Tony decided to just give the kid some space. He was about to leave, until he heard the doorknob being turned. The door cracked open and a still tear stained face appeared in the crack.
They both awkwardly went in the room and sat on the bed. Silence filled the room for the next two minutes, but it felt much longer than that to the two of them.
"What made you change your mind?" Peter asked.
"Surprisingly, it was Steve," Tony replied.
"Look, I'm sorry I haven't been the best... guardian? I'm sorry I haven't been the authority you needed. I'm not used to this whole teenager thing. From now on, I want to give you a lot more freedom. I'm going to expect you to be a teenager, not an adult," Tony said.
"Really? That's... thank you," Peter replies gratefully.
"Don't thank me, I'm sorry I haven't been what you needed at a time like this."
"It's okay. Like you said, you don't have experience."
"From now on, we try to work things out? No shutting each other out?" Tony asked.
"Deal," Peter said.
Without thinking, Tony went to hug Peter. Surprisingly (at least to Tony), Peter hugged him back.
Peter pulled out of the embrace, asking Tony a question.
"Does this mean you'll let me be Spider-Man again?"
"Woah there, slow down. Baby steps, okay? Maybe, just maybe, it could be a possibility in your future. Just, not right now," Tony said.
"Sounds fair."
"Well, I'll get out of your way. You have a concert to get ready for," Tony said, standing up.
"Wait," Peter said, stopping Tony before he was out of the room, "thank you, Tony. Really, thank you."
"No problem, kid."
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Wow, I'm literally so sorry it took that long to update. I do have time to write, but being in college makes it a lot harder to add putting up more chapters to the pile of work. I'm going to do my best to finish this asap, though! Please don't unfollow, I will finish this :)
Please review :D
