home ; peter parker

chapter two

    
     ⚠️ trigger warning; violence/abuse

     They arrived at the tower and Peter hopped out, almost instantly forgetting about all his worries. The tower never ceased to amaze him, even though he'd been coming every Friday ever since homecoming. Peter walked with Tony and Happy and they entered the tower.
     "Hello Boss, Happy, and Peter," FRIDAY, Tony's AI, greeted them.
     "Hey FRI," Tony greeted her casually. Happy turned and left down a hallway, leaving Tony and Peter standing there. Tony started walking to his lab, and Peter hesitantly followed when he turned around and motioned for him to follow. "Something bothering you kid?" He asked suddenly, looking down the hall as they walked.
     "Huh? Yeah. I-I mean, n-no! I'm fine," Peter nervously laughed again, fiddling with his fingers. 'I'm a terrible liar!' He thought, frustrated. 'If only I were wearing my mask right now, so Mr Stark couldn't see me.'
     "Mkay," Tony said, but Peter could've sworn he frowned. They turned into the lab. Alright let's get to work then."

***

     They had been working for a few hours. Peter had done his homework (and Flash's) and then they started working on Peter's suit. They talked together and adjusted things, and overall Peter was having a great time. Then Peter's phone buzzed.

'Be home by 8:00, dinner's almost ready. :)'

     Aunt May's text was even more intimidating to Peter because of the sweetness that masked venom within the text. He knew he had to be home by 8:00, because if he was any later-.

     "Is that May?" Tony looked over and saw the text. "Oh my bad for holding you so long, tell her I said hi. Bye kiddo, see you Friday!"
     "Bye Mr Stark! Thanks for letting me come on a Wednesday!" He waved as he exited the lab. It was time to go home. Well, he didn't really consider the apartment he lived in his home. He had never really had a home. He never had a place where he was comfortable to be himself. He had never had someone to call family. Well... the closest he had to family was Ned, who was like a brother to him, and Mr Stark, who was like a father to him. But he would never tell him that, because if the feeling wasn't mutual, then Mr Stark would never want to see him again because it would be too awkward. Peter couldn't risk losing him. Losing the internship. Because if he did, then May would be furious. And May didn't think rationally when she was furious. Or maybe she did, and she was just intent on watching Peter suffer. Either way, Peter couldn't lose the internship.

***

     Peter closed the door softly behind him. Aunt May walked in, looking cheery, but Peter knew it was just an illusion.
     "Peter! I'm so glad you made it home on time..." She dropped her smile. "Peter, darling, how was going over to the tower when I highly advised you not to? I was hoping you would come home, but I guess you wanted a harsher punishment. That's fine," She circled him slowly, making Peter shift uncomfortably. "Now, what wouldn't show up tomorrow?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head, her eyes glinting at him with hatred. She paused a moment, clearly wanting a reply out of Peter. "Answer me!" She yelled and slapped him, knowing it wouldn't show up tomorrow. Every once in a while, she would push Peter's limits to see if and when he would break. Recently, she found out that he could practically beat him senseless but there would be no marks the next day. It was because of his quick healing factor, but May didn't know that. Peter winced as his face burned, but he didn't dare fight back. His spidey senses were going haywire but he ignored them. Ever since he was little, May had been treating him this way. He'd never been strong enough to face her, so why would regular Peter be able to now? If he suddenly overtook her, she'd realize his strength and who knows what she'd do with him next? Peter didn't want to find out. He realized he was taking too long to answer when May slapped him again.
     "Please!" was all Peter could manage to cry out after May started to punch him. He cowered to the floor and covered his face, but she just started kicking his side. He felt so useless, wanting to fight back but knowing it was too risky. Once she'd decided she was done, she scoffed at him.
     "You're worthless, you know that?" She spat, grabbing his shirt collar and forced him to look up at her. "You're nothing but a charity case for 'Mr Stark'," She slammed his head hard on the floor before releasing him. Peter groaned as he held his head and she walked off. He knew he would have a headache tomorrow. Peter quickly got up and ran into his small room, closing his door. He sat in his chair at his desk and grabbed his head, closing his eyes.
     "Stop..." he murmured softly to the sounds around him, which were too loud. His head ached badly and he just wanted to sleep. But May had slammed his head really hard, and if he had a concussion he couldn't risk sleeping. So for an hour and a half, despite his current circumstances, he did what a logical person would do when they're bored. He stalked people on social media, he got into arguments online, he binge watched a series, googled the stages of grief, and looked at memes. You know, just gen z things.
     Then, at last, Peter got into bed. He turned off his light and nestled into his pillow. 'Tomorrow's a new day,' He thought, trying to reassure himself. But he told himself that every night, and it had rarely been true. But Peter was a bright and hopeful kid, who despite having many demons, also had a light in him that no one else seemed to have. So he believed the mantra that he told himself each night. He truly believed that tomorrow, it would all be okay.

     But Peter never seemed to realize that, tomorrow never comes.

- author's note -
🤠 hi if you're reading this ily don't hate me it gets better <3 (*coughs* eventually) this was kinda short sorry!

please tell me if you're enjoying the story so far!