{TW for abuse ig}
Peter trudged into his apartment that night, cringing when he sees May's not alone. He doesn't like May's boyfriend. Something about his is just off, though he'd never admit it to May. It made his spidey-senses ring in the back of his skull.
"I have to work for a couple hours, but Alex will be staying to get you dinner and he's there if you need any help with your homework. I have to head out though," May says quickly, kissing both her boyfriend and her nephew on the forehead.
"Bye, May," Peter mumbles, already wanting to duck into his room and not leave for the rest of the night. He hates when he's left alone with Alex. Something about him... it just freaks Peter out and he doesn't know why.
"Bye, babe. Have fun. See you tonight," Alex says, winking at the woman.
May blushes, waves, then ducks out.
The moment the door closes, Alex turns on Peter, face drained of all the carefree joy from moments before.
"What's for dinner?" Peter asks quietly, spidey-senses pounding in the back of his skull.
"Nothing for you. Like you deserve to eat anything," Alex mutters, rolling his dark eyes.
"What?" Peter says, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Your Aunt is constantly complaining about how much you eat and how hard it is to pay for your food all the time. So you're going to be a good boy and skip dinner tonight, and tell May that we ordered pizza, alright?" Alex says, voice pitching higher as though he's talking to a toddler.
Peter frowns deeply, knowing his words are true. He's already been cutting back on breakfast, getting a granola bar and smoothie from the school's free breakfast program. May's been working less overtime shifts so she can spend time with Alex, but that means less money and Peter can't be eating as much.
Peter opens his mouth to speak, but Alex stands, squaring his shoulders and glaring down at the smaller boy.
"Go to your room," Alex snarls, pointing towards the hallway.
Peter's eyes widen and he quickly nods, scurrying off to his bedroom.
He immediately slams his door shut and collapses to the floor in front of it, confused as to why his hearts racing as fast as it is and why he feels the need for a flight or fight reaction.
*
It takes him an hour to convince himself to move away from the door and to his desk to start working on his homework, trying to ignore his growling stomach. He's never had to skip dinner before. He normally would've had sandwich from Delmar's and takeout dinner by now, but he doesn't want to leave on patrol until May's home, just so that Alex doesn't get pissed.
The door slams open, Alex's shadowed face glaring at him. Peter stumbles up to his feet, arms held in front of his chest as though he can protect himself. He can, but he wouldn't. He would never use his powers against May's boyfriend.
He shakes his head. Why would he need to use them? It's not as thought his Aunt's boyfriend would try to hurt him, right? Wrong.
His spidey-senses won't shut up.
Dangerdangerdangerdangerdanger. Getoutgetoutgetoutgetout.
Alex grabs Peter's collar, pushing him against the wall, stench of alcohol on his breath.
"You're a little fucking fag, aren't you?! May hates you! She's always complaining about you and saying how she wishes you weren't here! You're a fucking nuisance. Why are you still here?! Why do you even bother?" Alex yells. Peter doesn't see it coming, fear coursing through his veins and blocking out his spidey-senses, not letting himself believe it would come to that. Alex's fist hits Peter in the face, sending the teenager's head sideways, banging against the wall behind him. Peter's breaths are coming in short bursts, eyes wide and darting around the room, trying to find an escape.
But Alex's hand slips up a bit, gripping onto Peter's neck instead of his shirt, pinning him against the wall. The older knees Peter in the stomach, making a small noise of pain escape the teen's throat.
"Please-" Peter chokes out, fingers desperately clawing at Alex's fist as black dots dance across his vision.
Alex continues screaming slurs at him, free hand punching him in the face, kneeing him in the stomach.
"May's going to be home in a few hours. You're going to go out and not come back for the rest of the night. If you say a word about this, I swear to god I will kill your aunt. Don't test me," Alex finally growls, dropping Peter to the ground.
Peter immediately curls in on himself, shaking as he coughs and coughs and coughs, spitting blood onto the carpet as tears escape the corners of his eyes.
"Get out," Alex seethes, kicking Peter in the ribs once more for good measure then stumbling out of the room.
Peter doesn't want to stick around to see what'll happen if he does, so he grabs his backpack off the floor and hurries as best as he can for the door.
*
He ends up going to MJ's house. He's not sure why or if she'll even be home, but she won't ask questions about his bleeding and bruised face.
He knocks on the door, leaning heavily against the frame as he waits.
Finally, MJ pulls it open. Her eyes land on Peter's face then dart back into the house. She grabs Peter's arm and pulls him inside.
"What the fuck are you doing here? What happened to you?" MJ demands, pushing him into her bedroom and onto her bed.
Peter doesn't say anything, eyes trained on the floor carefully. He can't say anything or somethings going to happen to May. He just has to man up and pretend this isn't happening.
MJ leaves the room then returns a few moments later with an ice pack. She presses it to Peter's nose gently, concern touching her face.
"What happened?" She asks again. "Was this a spiderman thing?"
He nods slowly, preferring lying to her over getting May into trouble.
"Can I stay the night?" Peter chokes out, blood dripping from his nose. "Please. Don't want May to worry."
MJ sighs. "Fine. Just be out of here early so my parents don't get pissed."
*
It starts happening more and more and more. Every time May's out, Alex is screaming and beating up the teenager. Discipline, Alex always says as though it's no big deal, the kid needs his discipline. May always looks a little concerned when Alex starts getting a little rough in front of her, but he always says it's a boy thing, they're just playing.
But everyone's seemed to notice how much more timid Peter's gotten. How Peter refuses to look anyone in the eyes because Alex told him not to. How Peter never speaks unless spoken to because Alex told him not to. How Peter doesn't go over to friends' houses because Alex told him not to. Unless Alex wants a night alone with May, in which case Peter goes out.
He still sneaks out as Spider-Man whenever he can. Only whenever Alex isn't at the apartment or whenever he consults May in advance and she says she'll cover for him with Alex, though he's always pissed the next time he sees the teenager.
His visits to the tower are fewer and farther between because Alex hates Tony Stark. It's the only time Peter will speak back, whenever Tony's mentioned, though even now he shuts up more often, picking and choosing his few battles against his aunt's boyfriend.
Tony's seemed to notice the difference in Peter's behavior, though he hasn't mentioned it since the first time that Peter came by with the bruises and the timid, dulled personality.
May figures it's from bullies and patrol, and Peter doesn't have the bravery to correct her thoughts, wishing he could protect her and himself from Alex, but he can't. He can only protect her. It's always a heavy threat looming over his every choice of words. If he says something, May's going to get hurt, there's no way around it.
So he keeps silent, covers up the worse of his bruises, averts his eyes when others linger on his wounds, lets the lies slip through his teeth like they mean nothing. To keep May safe. To keep May happy.
*
Peter's finally spending a weekend with Tony. Finally spending a couple days out of his house. He can barely sleep at home because his spidey-senses never stop going off anymore with Alex just a few doors away from him.
He's excited to say the least, though he's worried Tony will question the ever present bruises on him. Especially after Alex found out Peter was spending the weekend with Tony. His left eye was swollen shut and he's pretty sure he's broken his nose at least 4 times and his ribs at least half a dozen times since Alex was brought into his life.
At least he's got the fast healing to help, though that's even been slowed down because Alex rarely lets the teenager eat, so he normally skips breakfast and dinner in favor of granola bars hidden under his bed thanks to Ned who luckily didn't ask.
Peter walks into the lab, unsure of every step he takes. Tony's working at a desk, hips swaying a little bit to the music playing softly in the background.
Peter takes a deep breath, then knocks on the doorframe leading into Tony's lab.
"Pete! Come on in!" Tony exclaims, eyes losing their sparkle when he sees Peter's bruised face.
"Hi, Mister Stark. Thank you for having me over," Peter recites, keeping his manners in check lest he gets hit or something. He keeps his eyes well trained on the floor, refusing to look up. He's not allowed to look people in the eye. He doesn't deserve to be thought of as on the same level as anyone else. He's below. Always.
"Hey, kid. You okay? What happened?" Tony asks, hands curling into fists.
Peter takes a quick step back, out of Tony's reach, big eyes darting for an exit just in case. He wishes he trusted Tony more than Alex, but Alex is right. Nobody genuinely likes me. There must be some reason why Tony kept the teenager around.
"Patrol," Peter chokes out, struggling to keep his voice even.
"Karen said you haven't been on patrol since Tuesday. This would've healed by now..." Tony sighs, lifting his eyes to the ceiling.
Peter still refuses to look up, keeping his head bowed to Tony. His mentor hadn't asked a question, therefore he keeps his mouth shut. He knows the rules.
"Is something going on, Peter? Be honest with me. Please. You've been lying to me for months, and I pretended it was fine. I tried to convince myself that I didn't care enough. But I do care. And something is obviously not okay. You're covered in bruises all the time even if you haven't been on patrol and you won't even look at me. What the hell is going on with you?!" Tony demands, voice raising in annoyance of having to try so hard to get a straight answer from the kid. It shouldn't be as hard as it is and Tony doesn't know what he's supposed to do.
But obviously this wasn't the right thing to do as tears fill Peter's eyes and he stumbles another few steps away from his mentor.
"Please-" Peter cuts himself off, knowing this deserves another beating. He's broken the rules. He's trying to talk back. He's crying. He's not allowed to do that. He's going to get hurt for this.
Peter's breaths come in short bursts, hands shaking at his sides as he collapses to his knees, almost hitting the edge of the table in the process as he curls himself up to get away from the man.
"Peter, kid, listen to me, okay?" Tony's voice is gentle, carefully soft as he closes the distance between the two of them once again. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here, remember? I'm never going to hurt you. Ever. You're safe. I promise. You just have to tell me what's going. Can I touch you?"
Peter nods quickly, having been deprived of physical attention for way too long, especially for someone like himself. He thrives on positive physical attention.
Peter collapses against Tony's body when his arms wrap around the teen's shaking body, crying desperately into Tony's shoulder.
Peter begins to apologize through his tears. Begging for something, but he's not sure what. But Tony hushes him softly, hating that Peter's in so much pain, refusing help for it.
When Peter finallyconvinces himself to stop crying, he asks if he can just go to bed. Tony agrees, telling him that they'll talk in the morning.
But when morning comes, Peter's gone, having only left a small note in the kitchen saying he was fine, just remembered he promised Ned he'd help him study.
He can't take away May's happiness. He can't take away the peace having a second income has given May. He can't do that to her. He has to suck it up and hide it better.
*
It's another month later, a month of abuse and pain and holding back tears until the middle of the night where he sobs into his pillow, before Peter finally sees Tony again. And it goes over well. Peter told his mentor he was getting bullied at school, but Ned found out and told some teachers who've dealt with the issues. Tony believed him.
It's another month after that, a month of concealer and closing himself off even more and not being able to look anyone in the eye and flinching if anyone so much as raises their hand in his direction, before things somehow get worse.
May was out working for the night, leaving Peter alone with Alex. Already not a good start. Add alcohol to the mix and Peter knows he's not making it out of this one unscathed.
Peter had just gotten back from a long walk through Queens by himself, trying to find peace by himself, not having wanted to stay with Alex for any longer than he had to.
But when he finally gets back, a couple hours later, he isn't expecting the scene in the kitchen. Alex is standing there, absolutely seething, more angry than Peter had ever seen him. The Spider-Man suit clutches tightly in one fist, a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other. And Peter knows he's screwed.
"What the fuck is this?!" Alex demands, voice quiet, too quiet.
Tears are already welling in the teen's eyes, body trembling in fear.
Alex let's out a scream of anger, chucking the bottle in Peter's direction. Peter barely manages to duck fast enough, the glass shattering across the wall behind him.
"Please-" Peter mouths, not having it in him to make a single sound.
Alex drops the Spider-Man suit on the floor, in the puddle of the alcohol by Peter's feet and Peter's too focused on pushing the suit out of the liquid lest it explodes or something, and doesn't notice Alex grabbing something off the kitchen counter before prowling towards the kid.
Peter looks up at the footsteps, eyes wide when the light of the setting sun glints off the metal blade in Alex's fist. A knife.
Peter's not so sure he'll be lucky enough to make it out of this one.
Alex uses Peter's fear that has him frozen in place as an advantage, grabbing the collar of Peter's t-shirt and shoving him against the wall. He holds the kitchen knife against Peter's throat and a shallow whimper escapes Peter's throat, scared that the bobbing of his Adam's Apple might get him killed against the serrated edge of the blade.
Peter goes entirely still, tears falling down his colorless face as Alex seethes above him.
Alex starts screaming obscenities at the teenager but none of them are understood, the fear rendering Peter uselessly unable to concentrate on anything other than the blade against his neck. One wrong move and he's dead.
Peter feels the warm blood slowly sliding down his throat as the blade is pressed just a little bit too hard, recklessly hard against his throat.
Finally, the knife is removed, thrown carelessly to the floor and then the beating once again begins, this one worse than any other.
The same sentence repeating over and over again in the teen's head.
He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me.
Peter sobs and cries, desperate to be left alone once again, but now in his weak state on the floor, Alex ceases the opportunity. He grabs the knife again, eyes glinting maliciously as he waves the blade in Peter's direction.
Peter hiccups, sobs never ceasing as he realizes he's facing death. For real this time. He can barely pull the breaths into his lungs and then the knife's coming towards him.
It's entirely his spidey-senses that react for him, rolling out of the way of the knife and bringing himself onto shaky feet. The knife is embedded into the floor, Alex's finger nicked from the loss of balance.
He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me.
He races for his bedroom, heart pounding in his ears and in his stomach and in his throat.
The kid slams the door shut behind him, locking it quickly with shaking fingers as he spins for the window. Only the find bars covering the exit. Alex must've put them there while Peter was at school.
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. Getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout. Dangerdangerdangerdangerdanger.
Alex slams his shoulder against the door, the room shaking with the effort and Peter finds his phone tucked carefully under his pillow.
It rings for too long. Peter can't stop shaking, pressing his back up against the door even though it hurts as Alex tries to push it open.
Finally, "Pete? What's up, kid?"
"Mister Stark!" Peter gasps, sobbing shamelessly in relief.
"Woah. Is everything okay, kiddo?" Tony asks, the extra noises on the other side ceasing at Peter's panic.
"I need your help. Please. Please. I need you- I need help. Please. I can't-" Peter begs, heaving for breaths and scared of the twinges of pain in his throat.
"Where are you? Says you're not online."
"Home. Please. Please. He tried to kill me. He's trying to- please. He's going to-"
"Okay, kid. I'm on my way there right now. About 10 minutes out. How safe are you right now?"
Peter heaves for breath, coughing and sobbing harder when blood spews onto his floor.
"Deep breath, kid. Calm down. I need to know exactly how safe you are and if you can get to safety if you're not," Tony says, voice demanding yet soft.
"He put bars on the window, Mister Stark," Peter cries, before stopping to bring in another breath, easier this time because he knows Tony can fix this. Can fix everything. "He, uh, he's outside my door right now. Tryna get in. It's locked, but I can't get out. I can't go anywhere. He tried to kill me."
"I'm almost there, kid," Tony swears, telling Friday to boost up the power even more. "I need you to get the heaviest thing in your room and block the door. Anything heavy. Pile it in front if you have to. Then hide under the bed. I know it's scary, but I'm almost there, Okay? You're going to be fine. I'll call you back when it's safe, okay? Can you do that for me?"
Peter nods slowly, then remembers Tony can't see him and verbalizes his acknowledgment. He hangs up, keeping the phone tightly in one hand as he quickly moves his desk in front of the door, followed by his bookshelf. He doesn't have a lot but he hopes Tony's fast enough.
He crawls under the bed, squeezing his eyes shut and hands over his ears to block out Alex's screaming and the shuddering bangs of his body hitting the locked door.
Peter seems to space out as soon as he hears the repulsors, so relieved that all he can do is curl up and cry underneath his bed.
Finally, finally, his phone rings.
Peter dives for it, pulling it up to his ear quickly, sniveling into the receiver.
"You're safe, okay? You're safe now. It's been dealt with. I promise. I'm coming in now, Okay?" Tony says, knowing Peter won't be able to speak through his panic.
Peter nods quickly, forgetting once again that Tony can't see it happen.
He hears the door open, the Iron Man suit's strength easily pushing through the desk, the bookcase and the lock without an issue.
Peter can't help the way his chest seizes up at the loud footsteps coming into the room. But his panic is quick to fade when he hears Tony's gentle voice.
"Petey? You wanna come out from under there?" He says.
Peter shakes his head quickly, having felt safe underneath his bed. Alex couldn't get him underneath his bed.
"Come on, kiddo. It's safe now. Come on out."
It takes a while of coaxing to get Peter up onto his bed, but when he does, the teenager collapses into the billionaires chest, too tired to even say a word.
Tony decides to let the kid sleep. He can explain everything once May is home.
*
When May gets home, Tony and Peter have migrated to the couch, the latter refusing to let go of the former.
Peter knows he has a lot of explaining to do after calling Tony to come save him because someone in his house was trying to kill him.
He had never thought that Alex would go insane like he did. Maybe it linked back to the hatred against Tony. Maybe he had psychological problems that caused the want to kill the kid. Maybe Peter had just been an easy target and the beating hadn't been enough to release his anger.
All Peter knows is he's never going to have to see Alex again.
"What the hell happened?" May demands as soon as she walks through the door and takes in the sight of the glass shattered across the floor and the blood smeared everywhere. Normally Peter would've been forced to clean up this whole mess, but this time Alex wasn't there to boss him around.
She sees Peter. His small body curled up in Tony's arms, covered in those godawful bruises she's grown to hate, a bandage on his neck, tear tracks down his slightly swollen, puffy face. Eyes warily watching May's movement.
And Tony. Who still has an angry fire in his dark eyes, arms tight around Peter's trembling body, a sort of tiredness in the way he holds his shoulders. There's bloodstains on his old t-shirt and his knuckles are wrapped in the same type of bandage that's on her nephew's neck.
"What happened?" she asks, softer this time.
"I'm sorry," Peter whispers, eyes looking down at his hands, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.
"Peter..." Tony sighs, leaning his face down beside Peter's, hot breath against the side of the kid's face. "This isn't your fault. Never was, never will be."
"Where Alex? Is everything okay?" May asks, wandering closer.
"I don't know. I'll give Peter some time to get his thoughts together and tell you what I know?" Tony suggests, pulling away from the younger to face May properly who sits down in the chair opposite the couch. "I got a call a couple hours ago. From Peter. He was freaking out. Crying about how someone was trying to kill him. I got the suit and told Peter to protect himself. To hide. I show up here, there's a guy with a knife trying to bust into Pete's bedroom. Fight goes down, no gory details right now. He knew Spider-Man, I guess. He was angry and crazy or something. Didn't look right. But since he knew Spider-Man's identity, it became a problem of Shield's and he was taken into custody. Peter said he'd explain once you were here."
"Where was Alex during this? I thought he was staying here with you?" May questioned, eyes darting as though expecting the same sort of bad news like the night with Ben.
Peter slowly lifts his head, eyes unfocused and far away like he's lost somewhere deep in thought. "It was Alex."
"Alex... Alex tried to kill you? My boyfriend tried to kill you?" May repeats, eyes widening in confusion.
Peter snaps back to himself quickly, eyes welling with tears again. "You don't believe me?"
"Hey, hey, woah. I never said that. Just explain. Everything."
And so he does. He tells them about how Alex had been hitting him and screaming at him and abusing him for months and months and that today he just snapped after finding the suit. Peter cries. May cries. Tony cries.
"Why wouldn't you say anything?" May asks, moving from her chair to the couch to sit next to her nephew.
Peter sniffles, rubbing his flushed nose on his hoodie sleeve. "He said he was going to hurt you too if I told... You were so happy, May. I couldn't take that away from you. You were so so happy and you stopped working overtime and you started dressing up again... I hadn't seen you that happy since Ben. I couldn't take it away from you... not again."
"Again?" May exclaims. "What happened to Ben was not your fault, Peter. One day I will have said it enough that you'll understand. It wasn't your fault. I was happy just the two of us, and sure I was happy to have a second income and a boyfriend, but you're more important to me than those things ever will be. You need to get it through your skull.
"What if you had died tonight, Peter?" May says, taking Peter's hand and running her thumb over his knuckles. "What if you had died? What would have happened if I had came home to find you.... like that and Alex? I can't lose you too, Peter."
"I know, May... I know. I get it. Trust me, i do. I just didn't want to see you getting hurt. I'm Spider-Man. I should've been able to take it."
"You're still a kid, though. You're still 16 year old Peter Parker," Tony murmurs, almost unheard.
"Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. Never, ever put yourself through something like that again. Ever, okay?"
Peter nods, slowly lifting his head. He forces himself to make eye contact with May, despite the rolling pain in his stomach as his body subconsciously tended as though he still expects to get hit. He drops his gaze again, nodding once more.
"Did he tell you that?" Tony asks, trailing off as though he didn't want to continue. "Did he say you can't look people in the eye?"
Peter nods, feeling ashamed.
"What rules did he give you?" May asks, jaw clenching.
"Can't look people in the eye because I'm not on the same level as anyone else. I'm always below. Can't talk back. Can't leave unless I get permission. Can't eat food from home. Can't cry. Can't ask for anything. Don't speak unless spoken to," Peter recites, focusing on his twisting, clammy fingers.
"Peter, listen to me, okay? None of that is true. Don't follow any of that. You're allowed to speak whenever, ask for anything, eat whatever you want, do whatever you want. Alex is no longer here to tell you what you can and can't do. You're safe now. You're never going to have to go through anything like that ever again. I swear, okay?" Tony says, arms tightening around Peter's small body.
"We love you, okay, Peter?" May says, squeezing the kid's hand.
Peter nods and offers a small smile in return. A small step, but one towards recovery.