Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

28. Poetry

...

"Daphne is at the entrance," F.R.I.D.A.Y. states. Tony looks up from his work, slightly confused. F.R.I.D.A.Y. doesn't wait for Tony's reply and continues: "The guard is wondering if he should let her in."
"Tell him to let her through."
"Done." Tony didn't expect any guests, especially not at this hour, so he's in sweatpants and a tank top. Speaking of sweat, he's coated in it too. He's been trying to fix his fabric printer so he can make Peter a leotard that'll help him with the overstimulated neuron issue during the pas de deux classes. He's covered in oil swipes and grease. His hair is a mess too. Bottom line is that he's not exactly dressed for company and it irks him. He prefers to at least be somewhat presentable when there are other people around.

Tony sighs as he puts down the soldering apparatus. Peter's seen him like this more often than Tony would like, but if Daphne really is this important to Peter, Tony shouldn't be surprised if Daphne would see him like that more often as well. He cracks his back and neck and waits for the elevator to arrive. When it does, he's met with something he didn't really expect.

She stomps in. It looks like she's still in her ballet wear under her coat and boots. She's clutching her backpack against her chest. She's angry. Seething. It looks like she's cried. Tony has a déjà vu. It's exactly like when Peter barged in a little while back and ordered Tony to show him the list of scholarship students. She breathes rapidly and walks towards a desk. She aggressively wipes everything that's on there on the floor. Nothing fragile, luckily.

"Hey! Hey, easy there!" He walks towards her with his hands up, offended at her behavior in his house. She turns her head and her eyes seem to shoot lightning at him. It makes him stop where he stands. She doesn't break eye contact as she opens her backpack and forcefully shakes its contents onto the desk. Paper. Tons and tons of paper. She opens a zipper, takes out a hard drive and places it on top of the paper stack.
"Here," is all she says.
"What is all this?" Tony cocks his head and raises his eyebrows at her.
"Proof." She throws her empty backpack on the floor and turns back to the elevator.
"Woah, where do you think you're going?" She doesn't reply and hits the button to call on the elevator again. "Daphne!" He rushes after her. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., lock down this floor." The light at the elevator turns off and Daphne groans loudly.

"Let me go," she orders. Tony grabs her shoulder and forcefully turns her around to look at him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She clenches her jaw.
"I don't want to be involved in whatever you're going to do."
"Kid, how am I supposed to know what you're talking about?!" She stares at him, wide eyed.
"You mean he didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?!"

"Hi, Mr. Stark!" Both Daphne's and Tony's heads shoot to the window, where Spider-Man is climbing through. When he spots Daphne, he loses his balance and yelps as he falls in.
"Look who's clumsy now," Daphne scoffs. Spider-Man scrambles to his feet.
"Ha-ha, very funny." He pats his suit and makes his way to Tony and Daphne. "What's going on here?"
"That." Tony points at the desk Daphne just filled with his head. "She says it's proof."
"Proof of wha-" Spider-Man doesn't finish his sentence and thinks for a second. "David?" Daphne looks at her feet.
"And the whole money situation," she mutters. "I thought you'd already told him." Daphne looks back up at Tony, who looks at her confused. "I explained everything to Spider-Man yesterday when you asked him to check up on me."

Tony looks at Spider-Man with wide eyes, catching on to the fact that Peter used Tony as an excuse to talk to her as Spider-Man.
"Oh, did you now?"
"You asked me not to tell him, so I didn't," Spider-Man sighs apologetically.
"When you left it seemed like you were going to!" She turns to Spider-Man now. "I wasn't going to do anything, until..." She frowns.
"Until what, kid?" Tony purses his lips. She looks down at her feet again. Tears well up in her eyes and she holds back a sob.
"David..." she whispers. "He hurt Peter." Tony and Spider-Man glance at each other and Tony angles his head up as he presses his lips on top of each other.

This night was going a whole lot different than Tony had expected it to. He has to admit he's slightly amused at the group set up. The richest man in the world, Tony Stark, covered in sweat, grease and oil, wearing sweat pants and a tank top. A ballerina wearing a thick winter coat with a scarf and just her thin, white tights-covered legs sticking out from underneath, hiding her feet in high boots. And the arachnid hero: your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Tony looks back down at Daphne.
"He told me," he states simply. She looks up at him.

"I'm used to it, you know? Having a pair of eyes on me all the fucking time." The tears are now streaming down her face as she forces the words out of her throat. "I'm okay with him hurting me as long as it's just me." She turns to look at Spider-Man. Her expression is determined, yet broken. "He crossed the line. I can't have him hurt someone I care about." Spider-Man's breath hitches in his throat. It's like she's looking straight at Peter, through the mask. Tears prickle in the corners of his own eyes and the lump in his throat keeps him from replying. She turns back to Tony and gestures at the desk. "So, I brought proof." She walks to the desk and Tony and Spider-Man quietly follow her. "All of it."

...

"What is all of this stuff?" Tony asks. Daphne picks up the hard drive and holds it in front of her. "All the emails the school forced me to delete. I had them backed up just in case."
"Emails?" Spider-Man clears his throat before he says that.
"My official complaints about David's behavior towards me. They sat me down in front of a computer at school and made me delete all of it while they watched."
"Jesus Christ," Tony exclaims softly. "And the papers?"
"Poetry."
"Poetry?" Tony picks up one of the pages and reads it. Disgust washes over him. "What the-" He grabs a few more from the table and reads them, barely believing the words on the paper. 

_______

Spider-Man picks up a poem that's in a plastic zip bag.
"Why is this one... packaged?"
"He covered it in... Well, uh..." She frowns. "His load." Spider-Man jolts and lets go of it immediately. It gently glides back onto the pile. "There's another one with his blood." She sucks at her teeth. "And spit."
"This guy is insane," Tony mutters. He looks up worried, staring at Daphne in disbelief. "I've read a lot of kinky fan mail in my time, but this is absolutely horrid." Daphne presses her lips on top of each other and nods slowly. "This one is about cutting you up into a million pieces and then eat you?!" Tony lets go of it and holds up the next one he's read. "He wants to tie you up in his basement and wha- what does this say?" Tony pauses to re-read the sentence and collect his thoughts. "Breed you?!"
"That's... Actually one of the milder ones he's written." Tony's frozen in place, his eyebrows went as far up as they possible can and he just stares at her. "He, uh... He wants it all to be non-consensual." Spider-Man is silent, staring blankly ahead. He's pretty sure he's not even breathing anymore.

"So, you are telling me..." Tony talks slowly, carefully picking every word he's saying. "That the guy who has been threatening to literally rape you..." He slowly puts down the last poem he picked up on the table. "...And has been stalking you for months..." He cocks his head slowly, taking a deep breath. "...Is being protected by your school..." Daphne looks at the floor in front of her. "...So that I keep paying them money?" It's dead silent in the lab. All Daphne can hear is her own heartbeat, fast and loud between her ears. She replies quietly.
"Yes."