"Pete, don't be silly, you'll fall there," Anthony shook his head. "True, we're not that far from home, but I really don't want you to take a bath in this cold brook."
"Don't worry," the boy smiled, continuing jumping over the rocks in the middle of the creek. "Calm down. I have it under control."
I can see that, Anthony thought and chuckled. He turned and walked among the trees toward the house. "Come on, it's late and I'm starting to freeze."
Immediately after, there was a sound behind him resembling rolling stones and a shout.
"Cold!" The young man shouted with an unnaturally high voice as he sat in the brook, spit out ice water, and gasped. He didn't get a chance to react in any way after suddenly disappearing firmly ground under his feet. Then all he could feel was only ice water.
"When it's time for "I told you" let me know," Tony couldn't help but smirk a little, just trying to mask his fear. It took him a while to get to his companion and help him out of the water, as the boy was unable to move. Peter fell to the ground, chattering his teeth. He rolled onto his side and curled up in a ball, shaking.
"Peter," the man poked him. "Get up, we have to get you home and warm you up."
"Hmm ..." was Peter's only reaction.
"Do you understand what I'm telling you?!"
"Y-Yes."
"Then get up!" The young man shook his head.
"Will, will yo-u car-rry me?"
"No."
"Okay ... I just ha-have to rest for a while and... gain some strength."
"No way! You will rest at home," the man began to lose patience. "But now stand up, you have to move!" The boy muttered something, but finally let himself be persuaded and, with Stark's help, scrambled to his feet. Tony supported him and they headed for the house together.
"Take off you clothes, I'll bring you a blanket and something dry." Tony let Peter stand in the doorway. He dropped the keys and disappeared upstairs. The boy obeyed. Rather, he tried.
He took off his cap and his frozen fingers began to struggle with the zip. Vainly. When the man returned to the boy, he found him almost as he had left him a moment ago. He dropped the blanket on the floor, knelt in front of the brunette. He pulled off his dark jacket and helped Peter get out of it. Then followed the sweatshirt, shirt, and finally his trousers. Tony pulled a dry long-sleeved T-shirt over the young man's head, helped him into tracksuit trousers, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him to the sofa in his arms.
The young man kept shaking.
Tony built a fire in the fireplace, even though the room was warm enough. Then he bounced back to make tea and also change his own clothes.
"Th-Thank you," Peter smiled at Tony and reached for the drink. The man nodded and sat down next to the boy. Peter set the cup down and laid his head on Tony's lap. The man immediately began to play with his wet hair with his palm.
"Next time, when you would like to take a bath, don't be afraid to tell me. I'll fill the bath, you don't have to jump into icy water in the middle of forest," he grinned.
"Can I-can I a-ask you something?" Peter asked, ignoring the older man's remark.
"Of course."
"I thought that when... y-you know." No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find the words that could define Anthony's job, so he had no choice but to say it all straight. "W-When you... kill someone..."
"Yes?"
"A-Are you... l-like in The Tell-Tale Heart?"
"What?"
"That's one story from Poe," the boy began explaining. "The killer buried his victim's heart under the floor, but then he begins to hear its beat. And it's louder and louder and louder until the end, when," he suddenly stopped talking and stared idly ahead, his mouth ajar. Tony raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly forward, expecting that Peter will finish his story so that he would finally understand exactly what the young man was trying to tell him.
"... I haven't finished reading it, I was scared," the brunette admitted softly, and the man chuckled. "But this is something simi-"
"You mean, if I feel pangs of conscience?" Anthony understood.
"Yes! Exactly."
""Couldn't you have said it right away?" Maybe he used a slightly rougher tone of voice than he had originally intended, because the young man, his head still resting on his thigh, visibly tensed.
"I'm sorry, sometimes I get a little carried away," he muttered.
"It's okay," Tony reassured him immediately, stroking Peter's hair again. "But to answer you... you should know that when I killed someone for the first time, I wasn't much older than you. I will never forget that day." Peter lay on his back so his eyes met Stark's.
"Will you tell me about it? Weren't you scared?"
"Of course, I was. But found out, that it's good to aim at the person and deliberately shoot over his head or just somewhere out of his body. That helped." Peter listened intently, memorizing every word. "Then you aim at him or her again, maybe close your eyes and shoot ... If you keep killing, it's much easier."
"But what if you lov-"
The bell rang. Peter winced and sat. Anthony pressed a little kiss to his hair and headed for the door. He looked who was outside before he opened.
"Stark, I need to talk to you." A voice he didn't know came to Peter's ears.
"Sure, come inside," Tony nodded, letting the blond man into the house.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Tony, but like I indicated before over the phone, I need to talk to you... In private," he pointed at Peter, who was still sitting on the sofa. The boy's presence did not seem to surprise him." This is about one of our cases."
"Fine," Tony nodded. He turned to Peter and said, "Baby, be so kind and go to our bedroom, okay?"
"But I quite like it here," the boy shook his head. "And I won't tell anyone." Basically, he didn't even have a chance to tell anybody.
"Pete, don't make me repeat it," Anthony raised his voice.
"But I would-"
"Peter! Go upstairs! Now!"
"No," the young man pursed his lips. He wanted to stay here with Tony. What if the stranger wants to hurt him?
Stark sighed, turned to his old friend, and said, "Give us a moment," walked over to the young brunette and gave him one quick slap.
"I said something, Pete, so get up."
The boy stared at the ground and stood up, though it was clear how much he wanted to defend himself.
"Good boy, now, go upstairs."
Peter looked at the man with hatred and followed Tony up the stairs, then went into the bedroom.
"Wait here for me, okay?" Stark smiled, giving young Parker a kiss on the lips before taking the key from the lock and preparing to lock behind him.
"No, Tony, no, I don't-"
Click.
"Tony! Please! I'm so sorry, unlock the door, I'll stay here, I'm going nowhere, I'll be good, I promise," the boy started to cry. He didn't like when Anthony locked him anywhere or pulled him out on a leash outside. These things was showing Peter that Tony doesn't trust him.
Or how he tied him to the bed...
"If you don't open the door, I swear to God... that I... I will hurt you... I will kill you." He leaned his back against the door and slid to the floor. "Kill you," he muttered to himself, closing his eyes.
Tony stepped away from the door.
"Isn't that a little cruel? After all, he promised not to try anything," a voice said from the end of the stairs.
"No. He shouldn't have talked back. This is how he always begs and threatens, "Anthony explained as he descended to the ground floor to Steve.
"If I understood correctly, he said he'll try to kill you."
"Yeah, sometimes he goes into hysterics, but otherwise he's a nice boy. Then he always calms down, apologizes and everything's fine."
The blond didn't seem to be soothed by Stark's words. He knew that a lot of people had it so that anger accumulated in them until one day their cup of patience will overflowed, and nothing but a big explosion could follow. But Tony was no amateur, he was definitely sure of everything he's doing. He had no reason to worry. This was not the first time Peter had "threatened" him. But as a result, he never did anything. So why should there be any different now?
And it's your favourite writer on Wattpad, who definitely updates regularly, every week... okay, I'll shut up. :D
I'm sorry the chapters were not coming out, I had a few things and I didn't have much time. But I'm back and I promise new chapters will be added soon.