Superfamily One Shots

Opening up

**Here's your angst fix for the week. Inspired by true events, I might add. Enjoy, and please don't hate me, lol**

Peter didn't eat much. He didn't sleep much. He would wake up, sleeping only a few hours, hair and clothes wrinkled, and just sit there. No shower. No change.

Tony tried everything from lab time to movies to dinosaur chicken nuggets. Pepper tried holding him at night, whispering soft assurances and kind words, wiping tears away with gentle fingers. It didn't do much, but Peter played along, taking a few small bites of chicken or nodding as Pepper assured that he was worth so much more.

Nothing helped. The words played in Peter's head over and over again.

At the end of the day, you're you and I'm me... You're an evil thing... You never try.

Peter played it over his head. Thoughtful dates he'd spent days planning, gifts he'd searched for, money and time and love and... How was Peter the issue? How could he say Peter didn't try when Peter tried every fucking day to make him smile?

"I can't remember the last time he asked me about my day," he said quietly once, while Pepper was stroking his head. "It was this unspoken thing. He had a bad day, I had to drop everything and comfort him. He had a good day, he was on top of the world, and I was too... too small to be part of it. He never seemed to care much. You know, when I told him I made the honor roll, he said he couldn't remember all that it entailed. Said he didn't..."

Peter trailed off, the days he'd spent feeling bad about himself because of him.

"You deserve better," Pepper said slowly, holding Peter closer. "You're so smart, Peter, so smart and genuinely kind. Always thinking of others."

"You know when I won that writing thing? I told him about it, and he said he was proud of me, but that fiction wasn't real writing."

Pepper scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You're so talented, honey. Your partner should be able to see that, and more than see it, they should be able to see it, love it, and celebrate it."

"Celebrate it like how we got a cake?" Peter asked, a lump rising in his throat and cutting off the words.

"Exactly," Pepper said. "He should have been proud of you, no matter what you wrote, because you wrote it and it was so good, so loved, that people voted for it in that competition."

Peter sniffled.

Days got easier, but some got harder. There were days when Peter got up, showered, and got dressed. Went out. He ran into Ned one morning, while getting coffee. They hugged, something they hadn't done in weeks. He was always so jealous - Peter hardly ever got to see his friends because of it.

Yet, there were days when it was hard to breath because of the pain in Peter's chest. Days when the loneliness, the sadness, the way Peter had thrown away years for someone who threw him away in less than a day, all of it got to him. Held him down. Made him cry cold, silent tears. It was a bigger grief than just a significant other, this was deeper. It was grief for all those times he said that Peter would make a handsome groom one day, or made up fantasies about miniature Peter's running around a future home. It was the loss of a life Peter had come to envision as his future.

Pepper and Tony were so worried and angry. "They planned a dinner date the night before and then out of nowhere, he calls and breaks up," Tony said angrily, slamming his hands down on the desk. Pepper jumped a little.

"I know, but... It happened. And it was cruel and selfish, but we have to help Peter now. There's nothing else to do."

Peter opened up slowly. It took time, and distance, to realize that maybe the relationship hadn't been healthy to begin with. Peter was always the one to carry affection, always the one to bend for him. Putting himself in awkward and uncomfortable positions just to make him smile. And the jealousy, the anger, the way he would snap or ignore Peter for hours or...

"One time," Peter said, startling Tony out of a calm silence. They were down in the lab, tinkering with projects that would never really be finished. "And don't get mad, but... he hit me."

Tony whipped his head up, his eyes blazing and mouth tight. "What?"

Peter shrugged. "A while ago. He hit me, and I was crying but... I don't really want to talk about it. I just feel like I made excuses for him, cleaned up after him, just believed that this was normal. Or at least normal for us. And now, like... I don't know, I just feel like that's no way back. I can never put the lid back on and pretend to be okay. Even if he did want me back, I can't..."

Peter trailed off, almost like he was looking for something more to say.

"Damn right there's no way back, if he fucking comes back here, I'll kill him." Tony's voice was heavy with fury, his fists balled up at his sides. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Peter shrugged again. "I kept thinking it was just a moment. One time. He just... got carried away?"

Tony huffed. "Bullshit."

But that was all part of it. Peter would wake up, feel a little happier, a little lighter. He'd laugh and sing and feel like maybe, he really did deserve someone who made him a priority. Who made him feel loved and safe and smart and handsome. Who made him happy. He'd talk things through with Tony and Pepper, confide in them when he was feeling like he needed someone and his hands would itch to text him. They'd talk about Peter's hobbies that he'd given up for that slimy son of a bitch, and then they'd talk about how to get back into them.

And Peter started to see it. Started to see how he was worth effort and love, and how he was just special enough that he'd find someone to love him better. And that he would live alone, or find some other whelping boy to torment, and that really, Peter would probably be happier than him in the long run.

It still hurt. It still sat on Peter's shoulders like a snake, ready to suffocate him, but it was easier now to pull it away and live each day in the sun. And maybe, if he ran into a cute boy at the coffee shop, or saw someone at the library, Peter would flirt and give a number or compliment their choice in book. And that was all okay, because he was moving on from something toxic into something clean and pure and finally better. And Tony and Pepper were there to hold his hands the entire way.