If They Knew All About You

Telling Secrets

Tony had his head braced on both his hands, elbows on the top of the workbench. He just couldn't concentrate. He couldn't get his mind to turn off and just focus on the task at hand.

Why? Why couldn't things be easy with the kid only once?

They had had this exact fight already when it had come to May Parker's hearing. Things had gone considerably well during that meeting at the lawyer's office. Well, depending on your definition of "well". Usually, Tony's definition didn't involve his kid crying uncontrollably into his coat. Still, considering the kind of worst-case scenarios he had envisioned before that meeting - including one particular nightmare in which his son had made a break for it through the window, May Parker hanging onto him for dear life, and had revealed his face and his abilities for the entire world to see.

No. As hard as it had been to see his kid this distraught, Pete had been incredibly strong and reasonable about that whole ordeal. That reason had gone out the window the next day when Pete had come to him, determined that he would have to go to May Parker's hearing and sentencing, furious when Tony had informed him that the hearing that had included her guilty plea had already happened that very day. In any other circumstances, he would have been proud of his son's determination and dedication but this just wasn't the time. Not the problem for him to make into the hill he'd die on. He had held himself tall, standing opposite Tony, clearly prepared to fight this out.

"I will go to the sentencing then. She'll be all alone there! She doesn't have anyone."

"Kid, it's not gonna happen..."

"Why not? Cause you say so? It's not fair! You know..." He sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady his voice, trying to calm himself. "You know how important this is to me. Please, Tony."

"There is going to be press there. There's going to be police there."

Pete shrugged like Tony didn't know very well that it terrified him. "I can deal with that."

"Oh, can you?"

"Yes!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Can you?"

Pete's face turned a darker shade of red. "What, you think I'm too weak to manage that?"

Throwing his hands up, Tony could only grunt out his frustration. "Jeezes... Pete, that's not what this is about. There is nothing to be accomplished by you being there. It helps nobody."

"It helps me." His chest heaved with a couple of deep breaths like he contemplated not going on. "It'll help May, too. She's all alone!"

It was a struggle for Tony not to groan again at that but the words slipped out nonetheless. "Not even May wants you to be there."

That had made him freeze in his tracks. "Wh-what?"

It felt like cheating to throw it out there. A little mean, too. It sounded like he was going to try and keep them apart with an easy lie that Pete had no way to verify when - at least in this case - it was entirely true.

After a deep breath, Tony's shoulders dropped, his head tilted to the side. "She doesn't want you to see her like that, bud. You can't blame her for that."

"That's..." Pete swallowed hard, giving his head a hard shake. "No, you're lying. That's... that's not true." But the look on his face said something else. The look on his face said that maybe he did believe it.

"Listen, kid, you're right, okay? I definitely don't want you there for a million reasons. Security and exposure to the press are certainly a couple of them. But I'm with May on this: That's not something for you to be a part of, bud. I know you don't want to hear that right now but we just have your best interest at heart."