You Can Let Go Now Daddy

Meet Peter

Tony hadn't originally planned on visiting one of the foster homes he'd donated to, but Pepper had insisted. 'You can't let your fans down, Tony.'
Did he even have fans?

He fixed his suit. In all honesty, he didn't hate children, they were pretty cute. He'd just rather have his own kid and not be surrounded by them. One was surely enough.

As the car pulled up outside of the home, Tony took it in. They were in a suburb on the outskirts of the city. The house had a friendly exterior, red brick home with a fence painted black and children's toys littered the yard, ranging from basketballs and frisbees to teddy bears and yoyos. As he climbed out of the car, Happy hurried to follow.

"Mr. Stark, welcome!" A woman with a cheery smile opened the door and Tony was startled. Of course he had known he was expected, but he hadn't expected the quick greeting.
He composed himself and smiled.

"Hello, Miss....?" Pepper had reminded him of her name about 50 times in the past few days and yet he's still forgotten.

"Smith. Miss Smith. All of the children are excited to meet you and very grateful for your donation." Her smile seemed to keep getting bigger and it made Tony uncomfortable.

"Where are they?" He asked, eyes scanning the doorway. "Can I see them?"
She chuckled and nodded. "They're upstairs. Follow me, Mr. Stark."

As he stepped into the house it became clear that his donation had been needed. While the house looked fine on the outside, the inside was anything but. Paint was peeling on almost every wall that they walked by and there weren't any children's toys anywhere. Most of the furniture was scratched, ripped or plain ugly and the place smelt like rotten eggs. Did children really live here?

As they approached the staircase, in places broken or uneven, he turned to Miss Smith.

"How many children live here?" He asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. For some reason, this whole situation was putting him off. He was almost ready to call J.A.R.V.IS. and have his suit sent to him. Happy sneezed as he passed a dusty cabinet.

"7. 1 baby; Ashley, 2 teenagers; Finn and Ariana, 3 children between the ages of 10 and 12; Jason, Alexander and Aaron.. and a 5 year old; Peter." She replied as she began to ascend the stairs. Tony tried to imagine this place filled to the brim with kids. He couldn't.

"This place could really use that million." Happy snorted quietly as they walked a foot behind Miss Smith. Tony chuckled dryly. He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong but he couldn't put his finger on it. They reached the top of the stairs.

The first room held the Jason, Alexander and Aaron and they were ecstatic when they saw that THE Tony Stark had come to visit them. Tony signed everything they asked him to and answered as many questions as possible, looking around the empty room. The only piece of furniture in the room were three beds pushed against the walls. The boys were skinny, but no real red alarms stood out to Tony.

In the next room, Ariana ignored Tony and Ashley was sleeping in the crib. Again the only pieces of furniture were the beds. When they left that room, Miss Smith smiled and began to lead him back the way they came. His stomach twisted.

"Weren't there two more kids? .... Peter and... Finn?" His memory wasn't great but he was pretty sure he'd heard there were two more. He turned to the last room besides Miss Smiths on the floor.
Her smile faltered. Happy and Tony shared a look as he turned to the door, opening it slowly.
How he wished he'd just turned and ran before he opened the door. Peter was pinned below Finn and Tony realized with a jolt why she hadn't wanted him to see it. He yanked the male off the small boy, eyes burning as he turned to her.

"Does this happen a lot? Did you know your oldest was molesting him?" He demanded, already knowing the answer as he shook the teenager. The small boy whimpered. Happy was already typing frantically on his phone, probably messaging Pepper to call the police.
He could feel his vision turning red slightly but he pushed it down. "Happy, escort Miss Smith and this pathetic waste of space outside to wait for the police." He saw his friend about to protest but Tony held his hand, pointing slightly to the small boy shaking on the bed. Happy quietly grabbed the teen from Tony and led the woman out of the room.

Once the door shut behind Happy, Tony turned to the boy, kneeling in front of the bed. Peter's eyes watched him warily, not fully trusting the man in front of him, after all, it seemed men only wanted him alone to do stuff that hurt. Peter didn't like to be hurt.

"My names Tony Stark. I'm not going to hurt you, kid." He promised but Peter didn't back down. That's what the guy before him had said and Peter didn't want to relive that. He whined and moved away. Tony lifted his hands in mock surrender.

"I'm not going to touch you. I promise. No one should touch you. Can I ask you what that was?" He asked gently. Peter shrugged, staring at his shoes. He didn't want to tell Tony. Grown ups didn't care.
The older male sighed. "Okay. Fine. You don't have to say anything Peter, but please let me take you out of here and get you somewhere safe. I'll even take you for ice cream." He tried to get the kid to agree and when he said ice cream, he knew he'd hit the jackpot.

"Ice cream?" Peter's voice shook but it sounded hopeful. His eyes had lifted from their stare at his shoes. "Chocolate ice cream?" He was still skeptical, but Tony's offer was too good to be true. Exactly what he was craving.

"Sure. All you gotta do is go downstairs and see the nice doctors. Take a ride in the ambulance won't that be fun? If you're very good at the hospital then I'll take you for ice cream." He promised, hoping the boy would agree. Peter thought about it. That didn't sound too hard.

"Is the hothpital scary?" He asked, nervously. Tony hesitated.

"It can be... But I'll be there so it doesn't have to be." He smiled gently at Peter and Peter smiled back. His little hand hesitantly reached for Tony's.
"Ice cream." He nodded and Tony smiled.
Oh Lord, this child would be the death of him.