Chapter 21

Tony was left truly in awe of Peter when he asked if they could go visit May at the hospital, and visit the children's ward as Spider Man and Iron Man, taking them some of the sweets they got. It reminded Tony just how pure and selfless Peter was. He was a truly great kid, and the most honest person Tony had ever met. And he was his son. Sometimes Tony just couldn't quite believe he had such a good son. He was sure his children would be hell raisers like him. He was sure it was a testament to how May raised Peter. He just hoped that he didn't mess the kid up.

Peter had left his suit in the car before they left the house, and Tony always had his arc reactor and wristbands on at all times in preparation so they didn't have to go home, and were able to go straight to the hospital.

They decided to keep their current costumes on to show May first before changing.

May had a small office now from her promotion, so they headed there first to find her. Knowing that Happy would be with her, they approached cautiously in case they were...kissing or something.

Knocking on the door, Peter waited for May to respond. He listened when the door suddenly swung open.

"Peter!" May said surprised, and instantly pulled him into a tight hug; "Pepper! Tony!" She laughed looking at them all; "What are you all doing here?"

"We're trick or treating." Tony said dramatically waving his hands to gesture at their costumes.

"We wanted to pay you a visit to say Happy Halloween." Pepper added.

"Well you all look amazing." May chuckled; "Come in come in."

As they entered the office seeing the row of cabinets, and desk by the window. Then they saw Happy sitting on the sofa on the right hand wall, in his normal suit with a pirate hat on.

"Hey Hap!" Tony greeted smirking at the hat; "What are you supposed to be?"

Happy rolled his eyes at him as May smirked, lightly smacking Tony; "Be nice."

"So how's work been?" Peter asked eagerly eyeing his aunt worriedly. It touched Tony, how much his Peter cared for and looked out for his aunt. Like a man. He was growing up.

"Eh it's ok. Halloween's always pretty crazy. A lot of idiots about."

"Yeah tell me about it." Tony grumbled thinking about those dumbass clowns.

May sent him a raised eyebrow at that, Tony just mouthed later. She slowly nodded getting the message.

"We also came because Peter wanted to pay a visit to the children's ward." Pepper said proudly laying a hand on his shoulder; "As Spider Man and Iron Man."

"Oh really? That would be great." May grinned; "Some of them get a little down when they're here for Halloween or Christmas. So that would go a long way to cheering them up."

"Is it ok though?" Tony wavered; "I mean...can they have sweets? Is it safe to...surprise them?" If any of them had heart conditions or were sick, Tony didn't want to make things worse.

May looked at him fondly and merely waved her hand; "Kids are very sturdy. They bounce back fairly quickly. They'll love it."

0o0o0ooSPIDERMAN0o0oo0o0

When Peter went to bathroom to change into his suit, Tony then explained to May, Happy and Pepper what happened in the maze.

"Oh my god." Pepper covered her mouth shaking her head; "Poor Peter."

"Was he ok?" May asked crossing her arms looking intently at Tony.

"He was quite shaken, but I calmed him down from the Sensory Overload. He seemed ok after that, but...he mentioned how scared of clowns he was." Tony murmured grimacing; "If I had known I never would have taken him in there."

"It's not your fault Tony." May assured him which was a surprise; "You couldn't have known what was going to happen. It was a nice gesture, and he seems really happy."

"You want me to go do something about the clowns?" Happy offered narrowing his eyes and clenching his fists, furious at anyone who would hurt the kid. It made Tony happy to know someone else was going to look out for his son.

"Nah I handled it."

"What did you do?" Pepper raised an eyebrow; "Do I need to call the lawyers?"

"Yes you do but not for what you think. That zombie girl Jess needs to sign an NDA, but she's a nice girl so it's not a problem."

"And the clowns?"

"Gone." Tony said grinning; "Fired. I had a nice little chat with the neighbourhood association of that street and the hay maze boss. Made some things very clear. Oh they need to sign NDA's too."

Pepper rolled her eyes, but smiled fondly at the way Tony went all daddy bear on people when it came to Peter.

"It just downright stupid having kids going into a maze with horror movie clowns scaring people. They're lucky they didn't get any lawsuits." Tony murmured before looking anxiously at May; "Do I need to be worried about this clown thing with the kid? I mean he seems fine but...he told me the nightmares started after Ben died, when some clown scared him at a party." He hated bringing up some painful memories for May losing her husband, but he had to know for Peter.

May looked down and sighed; "Yeah that was a difficult period for both of us. It's hard to say now what will happen. That phase scared me to death. He was already grieving and so sullen. With the nightmares as well. He would wake up screaming almost every night. Was petrified to go to sleep, was falling asleep at school. Terrified to leave the house alone. Just a photo of a clown would set him off. Eventually the nightmares passed as he got older, but I guess you can see his fear never went away. I've always been worried the nightmares might come back."

Poor kid Tony mused. Just picturing a tiny Peter waking up screaming from clown nightmares it broke his heart. He was going to be there for Peter now.

"We'll keep a close eye on him." Pepper promised nodding at Tony.

"Thanks." May smiled tiredly at them, relieved to have some support with Peter. She loved him with all her heart but single parenting is tough. It's better to have a partner, or more; "I'm sure he'll be ok. He's always felt safe with you."

Tony was pleased to hear that, but was a little concerned about what might happen later on tonight. If Peter was going to have nightmares. He felt guilty because if he did, it was his fault. If he hadn't taken Peter to that goddamn maze this never would have happened.

0o0o0oSPIDERMAN0o0o0o0o0

Not long later, Iron Man and Spider Man were greeting the kids in the children's ward and handing out some candy. Seeing the look of pure joy on their faces, Tony knew now why Peter wanted to do this. It felt good to cheer up some sick kids. And he could see it meant a lot to Peter. Maybe they could make it a regular thing.

As they were leaving the hospital May made a comment about making sure Peter didn't eat too many sweets or chocolate so he didn't have nightmares. Tony didn't think much of it, assuming she was joking because well Peter wasn't a normal kid. He had a super metabolism, a few extra sweets wasn't going to really make a difference. It took a lot more before it actually affected him.

So when Peter was munching away in the back seat on the way home, Tony just smiled and left him to it. That was something he was going to regret later.

0o0oooSPIDERMAN0o0o0o0o

Peter was running through the hay maze, alone, his heart racing, his body trembling. A clown with a real bloody chainsaw that revved loudly, laughing darkly was chasing him.

He was going to kill him!

Peter had never been so scared in his life.

He was fricking Spider Man! And yet here he was running away like a stupid kid. A baby. Crying for his dad. Because he was. He had been shouting for his dad the whole way through the maze. But no one was coming to save him...He was all alone.

Running into a dead end, Peter whimpered and looked around panicked.

"PETER!" The clown's evil whisper was all around him.

"Dad!" Peter yelled at the top of his lungs, starting to cry; "Dad please..."
"There's no where to run Peter. No where to hide I won't find you."

A shadow fell over Peter, and he gulped. Trembling heavily, turning slowly.

The tall clown towered over him. Black soulless eyes, ghost white face, a bloody chainsaw that was far too real. It looks sharp and deadly. The clown just laughed as it edged closer and closer to him, forcing Peter into the wall of hay that was so tall it went all the way up to the sky. Darkness closed in all around him.

He was utterly frozen in fear, his heart beating so fast that he felt it was going to explode out of his chest. And he was going to die, alone, his dad had abandoned him.

Then the clown grabbed him and Peter screamed.

"NO!" Peter screamed bolting upright in bed, gasping for air. His body covered in sweat. Darkness was everywhere and he feared he was still stuck in the hay maze with the clown.

Until the light from the hallway outside filtered in illuminating his bedroom at his dad's house. He was home. He was safe.

But that did nothing to calm Peter down. He was shaking violently and struggling to breath properly, his eyes watering.

He wanted his dad. But he was frozen in fear. The shadows in his room starting to appear as monsters after him in Peter's mind.

"F-FRIDAY?" Peter murmured with his teeth chattering. Fuelling his fear he got no response which was just alarming. That never happened.

"FRIDAY?" Peter whispered again but trembled as he house was eerily silent.

"DAD!" Peter shouted now. He knew he needed to get up to go find his dad, but he just couldn't find it in him to move.

Then the door was slowly pushed open with a loud creaking sound.

"Dad?" Peter smiled hopefully. But instantly stilled as the hairs on his arms stood on end. Something wasn't right. His spider sense was screaming at him.

But then as the pushed open fully, the figure stepped inside.

It wasn't his dad.

Fearfully, Peter found his eyes landing on a clown walking into his room.

"No no no..." Peter mumbled cowering away.

The clown stopped and looked at Peter. It tilted it's head staring which was utterly terrifying. Then it laughed; "I told you. You have no where to hide Peter."

Peter wanted to run but found himself unable to move. Then the clown lunged at him. Peter screamed his head off.