26. Marker

An-after getting outed at school as bisexual, Peter gets into some trouble and won't talk

TW-Sexual assault, blood, bullying

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Tony, of course, was in his lab, where else would he be? And he almost ignored the call, until FRIDAY told him it was Peter's school, Tony sighed before picking it up.

"Is this Tony Stark?" Tony just raised an eyebrow at the voice.

"The one and only." He smirked, there was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Well, you're listed as the guardian for Peter Parker, there was an incident, we're trying to figure out what happened, but he refuses to talk, he hasn't said a word since we found him." The ladies voice reverberated around Tony's head. The mention of an incident worried Tony, he had never heard of Peter and incident in the same sentence, he hurriedly wiped off the grease on his hands and scurried out the door to find a jacket.

"What happened? Is he ok? I'm on my way right now." Tony ignored the curious glances of the team as he went down the elevator, shooting Happy a text.

"As I said earlier Mr Stark, we aren't quite sure, Peter wouldn't even let the nurses touch him to clean him up. He's currently in the principles office, they are waiting for you."

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Tony hurried through the doors of the school, and rushed to the office, ignoring the awed looked he got form students and teachers. The office lady just looked up at him, clearly bored.

"I'm here to see the principle about Peter Parker." The woman huffed in response.

"Right this way." She said, slowly standing up and leading Tony to an office, where a man was sitting behind a desk, Peter was on the other side, he looked a mess. He had two black eyes, his face was covered in blood, that was leaking down his neck and into his shirt, and his hair was soaked and limp. His shirt was ripped, and the hoody he had left the tower with was gone. Along with arms and over his forehead was written a mixture of slurs and insults. Tony couldn't help but gape at Peter, who was staring at the wall behind the principle. 

"Is anyone gonna tell me what happened or do I have to find out myself?" Tony growled, the man, who Tony knew was called Mr Mortia from the fancy plaque on his desk, looked terrified, but quickly recovered.

"Please take a seat, Mr Stark." Tony did as asked, throwing Peter a worried look, "A teacher found Peter locked in one of the boys change room lockers. From what we understand he was physically assaulted and then held under the water, then placed in the locker. the Assualtent also wrote crude words on Peter's body. Other then that we don't know what happened, Peter refuses to talk to let anyone touch him, not even to clean him up." Tony peered at Peter who wasn't unresponsive.

"Do you know who did it? Because if there isn't a formal investigation my legal team will have a field day." The man shifted uncomfortably, visibly scared.

"I'm afraid we aren't sure. We've narrowed it own to Peter's PE class, and have a few suspects. Peter's always had trouble with bullying, he's always been an outsider. We had thought the matter was dealt with, but over the past few weeks Peter's teachers had noticed unrest between him and his peers, and he is often seen alone. That we know of this is the first instance of physical bullying Peter has experienced." Tony just leaned forward.

"But Peter does have friends, what about that Ned kid." Mortia was about to speak again only to be interrupted by Peter's quiet voice.

"He's not my friend anymore. I don't have any friends anymore." Tony tried to push for more information but Peter just stayed silent and refused to move.

Once the principle and he had discussed some more, Tony sighed and gestured for Peter to follow him. "Come on Underoos, let's go home." Peter just stood and rushed out of the building, attempting to cover his face with his hand, in an attempt to cover the words, only to realise the words were on his arms and hands too.

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Peter was sitting on the common room couches, the team wasn't sure if he was really there or not. They had attempted to clean him up, but he just flinched or moved away, and he hadn't said a word to anyone, other then what he said back at the school. Peter was staring at the wall again, stationary, seemingly ignoring the team.

"I can't tell if he can't hear us, or is ignoring us," Tony said solemnly, his head in his hands, they were gathered around the kitchen island, except Steve and Bucky, who were just sitting, but not pushing Peter to talk.

"I think we need to talk to him. It's obvious something more than just being beaten up and shoved in a locker." Clint said quietly.

"Well, I'm arming myself with a washcloth and a blanket," Tony said, scrambling to get the item, before gently sitting next to Peter, who blankly looked up at him, before offering him a tight smile. Tony smiled back, gently placing the blanket around Peter's shoulders, who took it gladly, wrapping it around himself. The team were eagerly awaiting Tony' approach. Tony reached out to take Peter's arm, who hesitantly gave it to him. Tony started to gently scrub the marker off Peter's skin while talking.

"Look, Pete, I know things have been hard since your Aunt May died, but I understand. But if you want us to help you need to talk to-" Peter just shook his head, making Tony stop talking.

"You don't understand." Peter looked down at his lap, the arm Tony was cleaning limp in his grasp. Tony motioned for the other arm, which Peter gave to him.

"Well if I'm going to understand I need you to talk to me, to us. I'm worried about you Peter. We all are, and we're here for you. We love you and care about you." Tony said quietly.

"I just want everything to go back to normal," Peter whispered, flexing his hand now that it was clean.

"What do you mean Pete? I'm pretty sure your life's been pretty normal, homework, school, all the works." Natasha said, Peter just shook his head.

"I wish May never died, and I wish I never trust Ned as much as I did, and I wish I still had friends wish I wasn't so stupid to tell Ned what I told him. I just want everything to be the way it was before Christmas." Peter was trying not to cry, now that Tony was carefully cleaning the blood and marker off his face.

"Pete, sometimes things happen that we wish didn't, and we can't wish them away," Bucky said, Peter just shook his head again, tears slipping out of his eyes now.

"Peter, what does this have to do with what happened today?" Steve said gently, Peter just smiled bitterly.

"I'm scared. They said if I told anyone they'd make me regret it. Tony, I'm scared. I don't wanna go back." Peter Was clutching the blanket with one hand and biting his thumbnail on the other, tears still flowing down his face.

"Peter I'm not letting you get hurt again." Peter just shook his head again, Tony grabbed Peter's chin, "I will do everything in my power to punish those sons a bitchs who hurt you. but you have to tell me what happened kid." Peter looked at Tony's face searching for something, Tony wasn't exactly sure why, but Peter must have found it because he suddenly had his face in the crease of Tony's neck. Tony was shocked, Peter had never hugged him, nor had he ever seen Peter cry. After adopting Peter, he was sure Peter would stay the same, but seeing Peter this vulnerable made his heart sore. Peter pulled back, Tony continued to wipe the marker off, waiting for Peter to start. Peter took a deep breath, and nodded a little, leaning into Tony's hand.

"It all started when MJ moved, she said it was because her dad got a new job, but then she blocked me on everything. And Ned, well after homecoming he got a week of detentions for using the school computers without authorisation so he hated me. I don't really know why he hated me, but he did." Peter took in a shaky breath, clutching the blanket tighter.

"I didn't know he'd told anyone what he did until I came to school. I don't follow anyone's socials and they don't follow me, so I didn't see anyone posting." The team raised an eyebrow at Peter.

"What did Ned tell them Peter?" Steve said gently, Peter looked up at him dazed.

"He outed me. I wanted to come out on my terms but he took that away from me. God, I wanted to come out to you guys on my own terms but that's ruined too. He knew how much it meant to me, May being dead. I guess that's why he did it." He paused to look up at the team who had looks of understanding, "I'm bisexual. I always have been." Peter didn't bother to look up at the team.

"It started when I came back to school after Christmas break. I could feel everyone staring at me, and hear them whispering. I didn't even know what had happened until the third period when one of the boys came up to me and asked if it was true. I said yes because I wasn't going to hide it, there was no use. All they did was say things, or call me things. The eating alone at lunch, and sitting alone in classes weren't so bad because I'd always been alone before Ned, it was just like before Highschool. May always said I needed to get better at making friends, she always said I was just picky. But it was because I always knew that I was different." Peter was grimacing.

"Today was the first time they ever got physical. I mean they always kind of threatened me, they always said they're do something, but I thought they were empty threats." Peter reached out to hold Tony's arm, now that he was done wiping the marker off, Tony allowed Peter to clutch his arm like a lifeline.

"It happened after Gym, I had gotten my shirt off and had it over my head and it got stuck, and I guess they thought it was the best time, cause next thing I knew I was being dragged toward the showers. I don't really remember what they said, but then they were beating me up, and I thought i could handle it cause I've been hit before. But it was different cause I knew them I guess, even Ned was hitting me. I thought he was my friend, I really did. I don't know how long they were hitting me, cause next thing I knew-" Peter cut himself off to raise a hand to his mouth to let out a sob, Tony rubbed up and down his arm to calm him down.

"It's ok Underoos, let it out." Once Peter had calmed down he lowered his hand and took a deep breath.

"Um, well they um, they god Tony they made me touch them. And, and I couldn't, I couldn't do anything cause I was so tired." The team had similar looks of disgust and pity, Tony was shushing Peter, who now had his head rested on Tony's arc reactor. Peter sniffed before taking another deep breath.

"I think I passed out when they started writing on me because the next thing I knew I woke up in the locker, and I started hitting it so someone could hear me. You know the rest." Peter pressed himself closer to Tony, who just wrapped his arms around Peter tighter, tears springing to his eyes when Peter broke down.

"Tony, I don't wanna go back. I'm scared dad." Peter mumbled, Tony almost screamed, that was the first time Peter called him dad, Tony was crying now, who wouldn't be.

"You're ok kid, you're ok. You did good. I'm so proud of you for telling us. But you have to know bambino, that none of what happened it your fault. You don't have to go back, not yet, not ever if you don't want to. Because I will fight for you, I'll make sure you never have to see them again. I love you kid" Peter nodded into Tony's chest, TOny motioned to Pepper to call up the team. He was going to keep his word, but for now, he needed to hug his son who desperately needed him.


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