Dependence

Chapter 5

"Let's go talk to them." Pepper suggested, he nodded and they walked over. Pepper sat next to Peyton and ran her hand up and down her arm in a comforting manner.

"So I'll send Happy tomorrow to pack up some of your things and then we can go through the rest of it later. I'm having Pepper pick up some adoption papers and we'll deal with all the legalities so don't worry about that." Tony said. Really, it shouldn't be too hard, he never signed away his parental rights.

"We're living here? With you? You're- you're adopting us?" Peyton asked.

"Well, that is if you want." he said. She nodded and a second later she was in his arms. He was startled but he wrapped his arms around her anyways. She was surprised to find he actually gave really good hugs.

"It's gonna work out, alright?"

~~~

It had been a few weeks since the accident and neither of the twins had said much. It was strange, being around Peter and not hearing the kid ramble about something or another. He mostly just moped around, usually near Tony, whether that be tinkering silently in the lab next to him, watching whatever sci-fi show Tony had turned on- usually specifically for Peter- or playing on his Stark Phone when Tony was on some kind of business call.

Peyton, however, had spent a lot of time on her new room. Occasionally Tony would ask Friday for an update on how the girl was doing and checking to see if she herself was still alive. Typically the report was that Peyton was drawing, sleeping, or staring at the ceiling while listening to music. The two were reacting to grief differently, neither really knew what to do with themselves. In their eyes, they had lost the only family they had left besides each other.

Peter had just finished some sugary cereal when he got up and began to scramble some eggs and toast some bread. After a moment, he grabbed some bacon and threw two pieces on a pan. Their morning routine was pretty normal, Tony would be up drinking coffee, Peter would come in and make himself some cereal, they would eat, and then they'd move on with their day. Tony raised an eyebrow at the meal he was creating.

"Hungry?" he asked. Peter just shook his head and quickly finished. He put everything on a plate and moved out of the kitchen. Tony curiously followed him. He nodded when they stopped outside of Peyton's door.

"Peyton, I brought you some breakfast." he said.

"Not hungry, thanks." she called back.

"Pey, when the last time you ate? When's the last time you even came out of that room?" Peter asked.

"I don't know... yesterday Pepper brought me a protein bar."

"I'm coming in." he said. She didn't protest as he pushed the door open and walked in, Tony hovered by the door. Peyton sat up, her brunette hair was frizzy and knotted from days of not being brushed, dark bags plagued the skin underneath her eyes, and she was wearing the same sweat pants and t-shirt she had on several days before when Pepper finally got her out of bed and under a shower head somehow. She glared accusingly at the plate in her brother's hands.

"You need to eat something." he said. She sighed, took it, and set it on her nightstand.

"Have you showered at all?" he asked.

"Like, once or twice... Pepper came by... Leave me alone, Peter, I'm not doing this with you right now." she huffed, plopping back down and burying herself underneath the covers.

"Peyton, you can't do this again, you lost so much weight last time." Peter begged. When Uncle Ben had died, she had closed in on herself. She spent weeks in her room, May and Peter tried to get her to eat, to shower, to go out, but she refused. She had lost over fifteen pounds and it scared all of them. Luckily, the grief counselor was able to help her work through things a bit more healthily, but now she was falling back into old habits.