Prosthetic Parker

Time to cheer up... again

The days following peters trip to the school seemed to dim, the monotonous routine of waking up, doing school work, eating, physical and mental therapy, and sleep was starting to get to him, making it feel like bugs were crawling under his skin. This was worse than before. Losing an arm and a leg hurt, it did, and it made everything feel weird, sometimes peter was certain he could still move the missing limbs, starting whenever he saw the glint of metal and not flesh, but losing a family member is worse, especially after having lost every other family member in his life.

It was strange, peter knew he wouldn't be seeing may later today. He wouldn't be forced to eat her bad cooking to make her happy, only to then order food a few minutes later, but sometimes he feels like he can hear her. Like she will bust into the room any minute with smoke coming from the kitchen. But that won't happen. May is gone, and now he lives in the avengers compound, his only visitors being happy and mister stark himself. Miss Potts had passed by, getting peter out of his room and helping her make dinner.

When the food came out fine the first time he had started crying, missing May more than anything.

She was now sitting in an Urn, the same one they had uncle ben in. He knew she'd rather share one with her husband than be separate, even after death.

It was with a strange sense of déjà vu as peter slowly sat up in his bed. His room was dark, but light streamed in from the windows that he had left open. He didn't know why he had, but the light helped somewhat.

It felt like the hole in his chest had gotten bigger, first from his parents, then from Ben, and now May. It chipped away at his mind.

Everyone he loves dies.

Everyone he cares for doesn't last.

Next would be ned, his over-enthusiastic guy in the chair. Then MJ, then Happy, then Tony, and then probably even pepper.

Tears spring back up into his eyes and he rubs at them furiously. He was tired of crying but it seemed that was all he did now.

A knock at the door drew his attention and Mister Starks voice called out, "hey Pete? There's some food in the kitchen if your hungry."

His stomach decided to rumble then and there and he sighed, standing and shuffling over to the door. Tony hides his surprise well, but the slight raising of his eyebrows gives him away. He smiles at peter softly and rests his arm around his shoulders, turning and walking the two of them into the kitchen.

"It's just a grilled cheese, something I can cook easily, it might be a bit burnt but..." he trails off, unsure what to say. Peter just nods, sitting down at the kitchen table and pulling the plated grilled cheese towards him. The sides were quite burnt but he didn't say anything, eating it all to appease Mister Stark. it reminded him of may and he tried not to start crying again.

Sitting at the table and sipping at the water he was handed, peter didn't know what to say to his mentor-slash-guardian. It seemed like the man didn't know what to say either. The silence seemed tense, peter fidgeting with his bottle and Tony staring out a window.

With a sigh the man stood up and stretched, "Alright kid, I'm going down to the lab. Wanna join me?"

"Sure."

~

Tony knew he wasn't ready to be anything remotely similar to a father, or a guardian, hell he was barely stable enough to be a mentor, but watching the scarred kid meet his robots with a smile made him feel all weird and warm inside. He had been the one to fuck up, he should have realized that the kid had started without him and would continue without him or the suit. Peter was too selfless for his good, it was easy to see with the way he interacted with the people around him. Always cautious, trying to avoid being an issue, people pleasing to the best of his abilities.