revivalproject | Indictment

Entry tags:

Indictment

WHO: Absolutely everyone.
WHERE: The diner.
WHAT: A decision has to made about threats to the community.
WHEN: After an attempted murder, a chaotic rescue, and an awkward reunion. Now.
WARNINGS: Nothing yet. Mark it if something comes up because...
NOTES: Structurally, this is a mingle, so you can decide what part of this is actually important to you. What you talk about in here doesn't have to be directly Beck-related, but for details about the incident, further organizing, and if you want to determine what your characters might have done/seen/heard in the meantime, this post is still good!

[NETWORK//text @ everyone]

Come to the diner. We have to talk.
If you don't show up, I'll assume you agree with me because you're incredibly intelligent and graceful. The city of Temba thanks you for your contribution to our justice system.

This was the last thing Tony wanted to do. The diner at least felt familiar, neutral--somewhere he could be in control, without having all of the attention on him. Being able to bask in the attention would have been so much easier. As it was, that felt like he would be inviting everyone to really examine the cracks in the armor. They were here because he had already lost control.

As if that didn't already feel enough like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Tony found himself standing in a circle of seats that he had arranged, the tables pushed up against the walls, and couldn't honestly say how much that had been intentional. He raised a lip, and looked to Felwinter as though he would have any illuminating insight about productive interior design. He seemed like he wanted to be here even less than Tony did. Beck was his charge for the time being, though, and as awkward as it was to stand in his stupid chair-circle with the pair of them, Tony did appreciate having Felwinter there to keep an eye on their...problem. Even if having witnesses to his restless energy made it all the more humiliating. Felwinter couldn't sit on Beck forever just to make sure he didn't lure anyone else off the edge of a cliff, so they were all going to have to survive a little humiliation.

"I think the coffee's done," Tony declared, with absolutely no idea what state the coffee was actually in and readily moving toward the kitchen regardless. "Do you want one? I'll get you one. Do you do that sort of...?" He was still talking, and what Felwinter did or didn't eat and drink might have otherwise been something Tony pushed him about, but he was already mentally in the kitchen and trailed off as he went, flapping a hand to wave off any refusal of his offer or explanation about Felwinter's digestive situation. Maybe he would just stay in the kitchen and listen, let Beck hang himself.

Tony took a deep breath, pushing his sunglasses up his nose and squaring his shoulders, readying himself for a performance.

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Peter can't really help it when he rolls his eyes at being called a kid. It's involuntary, don't look at him that way. However much he hates to admit it, Peter is a kid and he thought he was being responsible by staying with an adult. He picked the exact wrong adult.

"It's not your fault, I just didn't listen to that scared rule you learn when you're a kid; don't talk to strangers. It's funny because when I was little and... right after.. my parents, I didn't really want to talk to anybody but May and Ben." He shakes his head.

"Beck said that he works with me in the Future and that Nick Fury pulls me in on something and I should have questioned it because Mr Star-um.. the other version of you hates when I get involved in the big stuff. He got pissed when I took on a weapons dealer but the boss of the operation turned out to be my homecoming date's dad so that was an awkward car ride."

"I'm, honestly, and that is serious and thank you for sharing, but I'm having a hard time picturing you not talking," Tony mused, focus drifting up toward the ceiling and tapping rhythmically at the table like he was really taking the time to enjoy that fantasy. He wasn't going to get much of a chance to linger on it, though, because Peter did graciously prove his point and drag his focus back down to squint at a, predictably, ludicrous story. What Tony got out of the tale was, "You had a date to homecoming?"

Peter's not a bit surprised by Tony's inability to imagine him not talking as that is usually the response he gets when he tells someone about his time as a selective mute. He also doesn't usually talk about the person that pulled him out of that because that's just another example of why kids shouldn't talk to strangers.

"Well not for very long. I left her on the dance floor and ran off to fight her dad and he dropped a building on my head. It was a weird nigh-hey wait a minute. Why is me getting a date surprising?"

The part about the building was a lot less hard to believe, and Tony nodded along like Peter was just telling him something he already knew, slowly sipping at his coffee where he could hide the tug of his smirk at Peter's defensive question. "And the going to homecoming part, that part is surprising, too, it's a whole package," he pointed out instead of answering.

"It's hard to say what you should question," he continued, suddenly serious again, before Peter could argue with him any further about just how big of a nerd he was. "Besides everything, obviously, but--Listen, Tommy gets frustrated with me when I do question him and he's saying stuff about what he says is my future that sounds like the Mirror Universe. There could be a Beck that shows up and all of that stuff is absolutely true, and there's no real reason that you should have to doubt that--Another you shows up and tells you he's never heard of spiders, or May, or homecoming in his life, and there's no reason to doubt that. And in most cases, it's--okay, the worst that can happen is, they lied, but we're all stuck here, and so far no one's been telling lies that would put their own survival at risk. With so few of us, that's meant not putting anyone at risk." With a slow chew of his lip, he shot a sidelong look Beck's direction. So much for that.

He starts to look offended but in truth he hadn't really wanted to go until Liz needed a date. Parties just really aren't his thing-something Ned seems to always forget. But he stops as Tony turns the conversation to something more serious again.

Peter lets out a breath and considers what the man tells him. He's right, there was no need to really doubt what Beck had told him but he still feels guilty that he didn't.

"Maybe.. but I just.. I don't know.. I get-like... logically." He pulls his hands out of the sleeves his sweat shirt to animate his point. "I know that it's his fault for-" He swallows at the words. "-taking advantage of the fact I didn't know who he was.. I know that. But.. it still feels like my fault? If I'd just been a little more suspicious then maybe he wouldn't have have.." Had the chance to throw anyone down a hole, but he gets the feeling if Tony realizes he's blaming himself it won't go over well.

"Maybe." That might not have been the most gentle answer that anyone could give Peter in the moment. Tony didn't soften it at all, though, only twisted his mouth to the side then noisily sipped at his coffee again. They had already had the conversation where Tony told him about this future, where Peter had to deal with his regret, and Peter had opted to commit to it. How much less likely they'd be sitting here if he hadn't was a much more difficult equation. "Now we deal with it," was Tony's way of managing his own guilt. Now that he couldn't drink it away, anyway. "Future's more interesting. Solve the problem," he said, which should have sounded pretty straightforward, but he knew it never actually was. For starters, he pushed his mug aside to cage his hand on the table and try to pin down, "What is the problem?"

Yeah, they did have this conversation already and Peter's just so damn sorry he didn't listen well enough to stop this from happening. However, he feels guilty enough he doesn't need Tony reminding him with an 'I told you so.'

"I was wrong and you were right. Is that what you want to hear?" He asks, his voice just a touch louder than he'd meant for it to be. "...sorry." He says after a moment. "I didn't mean..."

He sucks in a breath and shakes his head. "He-when I lost my powers I panicked. Not like.. a little-like I couldn't breathe and he helped me calm down again and.. I just- I was wrong. Once again, I trusted the wrong person."

Peter snapping was a baffling enough reaction that Tony's eyes widened briefly, lips pursed, but he wasn't above muttering, "It is nice to hear, every once in a while, that's why I tell myself all the time," while Peter tried to apologize. Maybe it wasn't such a good time to test how much Peter would put up with him, so he ducked back into a sip of his drink, gaze rolling away.

It slid back reluctantly as Peter...well, he still didn't quite answer the more utilitarian question Tony was asking, but it was flirting with it. "Okay. So. Someone that did genuinely help you, turned out to be kind of an asshole," Tony abstracted for him. "I've been there," was an oversimplification. Tony had a habit of falling in love with people who ultimately would pull a gun on him. He was certain in all of those cases that it was very much his fault, he was not a very good boyfriend, but that didn't mean he was any less understanding of that complicated emotional reaction. "That's not really--I don't know if that's a solvable problem. You can put a bunch of armor on, and not let anyone help you, and you won't get betrayed that way, sure." He pouted, lifting one shoulder and turning an inquisitive look on Peter. Did that sound sustainable, or a better way to live at all? Tony had personal experience, they could debate the pros and cons if Peter really wanted to.

"Kind of?" Peter Scoffed. "He tried to kill you, and then full on tried to-well not tried too- he did gaslight me about it. I think that's a little more than kind of an asshole." He says with a humorless laugh.

After a moment, he just lets out a breath and seems to deflate again. "I don't know what to do. except just.. go through the five stages of grief, I guess. Right now I keep waffling between stages one and two."

Maybe this wasn't a problem that Tony could solve with the right math and elbow grease, and that was why Peter was tending toward snapping and arguing with him. He did know that, kind of. It would have been nice if the math thing was viable, and maybe that would have stopped Tony from impulsively arguing back, muttered into his coffee, "I mean, in the grand scheme, you know, universal threats--very minor crime, comparatively..."

The last thing they needed to do was get into a blow out about where Beck fell on the asshole scale, though, so Tony let out his own sigh and relinquished the safety of his mug once more to ask, "How's that going? D'you like one or two better?"

Peter's experiencing some very conflicting emotions at the moment and he has no real idea how to process them. Part of him wants to laugh at the absurdity of it all and Tony's statement since he was the one that was nearly killed. Another part wants to yell and scream because he almost lost someone again-and in a way did lose someone important to him and another wants to just let go and cry until he falls asleep because life can never give him a goddamn break and he has absolutely zero ideas as to how to put that into words.

"I don't like either." He just barely stops himself from snapping. "I'm stuck between trying to process everything that happened and then slipping back into denial and it's exhausting" He sucks in a breath and sips at the coffee again which turns into an extremely long drink.

That did sound about as appealing as Tony expected, so he had to nod, yeah, that's not a great loop to be in. Still it sounded like a math problem to Tony, though, so he had to bite his lip, doing his best to look very focused and engaged instead of insisting that some factor in the 'process' part kept on leading to the 'denial' part and jamming up the whole calculation. He couldn't quite give up the elbow grease, unfortunately, and still proposed out loud, "Do you need, uh, a gear shift?," miming in a tight circle over the table the shift, then a flick of his finger to send the car darting off.

Peter sets the now empty coffee mug down and just stares at Tony for a moment. He's resisting the urge to just curl up and cry. And Tony is just... coming up with absurd metaphors.

He can feel something bubbling up and before he can stop himself he giggles. There's absolutely nothing funny about this meeting or the situation but at the same time there kinda is because apparently Tony Stark making weird metaphors is a universal constant.

"I don't even know what that means." He confesses.

Was that a good reaction? It still sounded pretty miserable, but it was the first time Tony had heard Peter laugh and his brow furrowed somewhere between apologetic and hopeful. "Like you're stuck in first," he tried to elaborate, with the same gesture like it would make more sense the second time, "have to shift gears. Forget it. Do you even know how to drive yet? God, you've got a lot of life ahead of you, you can't be wallowing on this one for too much longer, the next thing is already half way through the door."

He's definitely still feeling pretty miserable and it's probably not gonna go away for awhile but he's, sadly, quite used to the process. However, he's genuinely amused at Tony's attempt to help- amused and annoyed so he might snap at him again later but right now he's leaning more towards bewildered.

Peter just offers small shake of his head, thinning his lips as he does and then pauses. Because he has driven before he just wouldn't hesitate to say he did it well.

"Uh.. I've driven May's car in parking lots. And also I kinda stole Flash's car and... sorta... totaled it. Once." He confesses. "But I only did it because I had to chase after Mr Toomes. And then he dropped the building on me. And then I crashed a plane-uh your-well other you-'s plane actually- into Coney island. It uh.. did I mention it was a weird night?"

"Honestly, listen, that sounds like a pretty straightforward night in our business. You've had weirder ones, I know it--you didn't even leave the dimension in that story, just trashed a bunch of vehicles, which is what some people do for fun on a Sunday. Okay, I'd rather the plane thing wasn't normal, those are really expensive, don't make it a habit, but--I mean, sweetheart, so a guy lied to you. Everyone's still got all of their parts. I don't think we even lost any buildings," Tony replied. "I'm not saying that doesn't suck. I'm just saying, it's not the worst thing that could have happened, and we're going to deal with it, and if we're really lucky even he'll be better for it. And we'll teach you how to drive so you don't crash any more of my planes."

Peter's frowning again because it wasn't a bunch of vehicles, just the one... and some bikes. He tries to follow Tony's line of thinking but he gets lost along the way because Tony is thing about it as though Peter's just upset about being lied to and insisting it's not that bad.

The anger's back again and Peter has bite his lip, trying hard to keep his temper in check.

"N-no.. no..." H e stammers out, shaking his head. "he didn't just lie to me Mr Stark-" He snaps and then pauses because he remembers this version of the man doesn't like being called that. "...Tony." He corrects himself. "He made me think I was safe when I knew I wasn't."

No, it's not he's not angry. He's sad now, he knows he is because his eyes are burning with tears he refuses to let out.

"You don't know what it's like to have your mind messed with like that. Not by someone you trusted to look out for you."

Even as Tony shifted with impatient discomfort for Peter's snapping again, he was ready to correct at the same time as Peter did, "Tony, please," muttered down his chest as he focused on his hand tapping away at the table. Still under his breath, like he was arguing with himself and overlapping Peter, he continued, "I'd probably call that lying, not being truthful..."

To his credit, he did stop as he risked glancing over at Peter again, both the arguing and the tapping to freeze anxiously. The laugh might have been a little opaque, but it was easier to deal with than this much more naked misery, and definitely easier than confronting this...accusation? Tony bit his tongue, holding it between his teeth as he brought his hand back to his chest, rubbing restlessly, and gave a jerky shake of his head. "I'm not saying I understand," he picked more carefully, instead of just blurting what his brain was producing. He wasn't ready to admit as much to himself, let alone the kid. "Just that, this is something you recover from. You have to."

Peter doesn't like this. He's cycling from one emotion to the next and it's confusing and exhausting and he has no idea how to stop it. He just wants it to stop.

"Yeah, I have to." Peter rolls his eyes, anger bubbling again. "But how many more times am I going to have to recover? I never really knew my parents, I probably wouldn't even recognize them if they showed up here and uncle Ben died just a year ago-" he can't stop the way his voice cracks and he's right back to misery again, only this time it feels like he's breaking. "I just miss him so much." he words turn to sobs and he has to quickly start wiping his eyes.

This was going so poorly that Tony had actively made Peter cry, making him grimace and glance around like he was looking for an emergency exit, or make sure no one else was witnessing this vulnerability, hand coming up like he might convince Peter to just not do that with a halting gesture.

At least Tony had plenty of context for just why this was affecting Peter so much.

Tony sat up taller, squaring himself toward Peter finally, shielding the kid from the rest of the diner with his shoulders and catching his wrist gently to stop him from doing the wiping; stop moving. "That shouldn't have happened to you," Tony agreed. That was a lot more pain than someone Peter's age should have to know. "But your life is full of people who love you, and loved your uncle, most of them you haven't even met yet. I'm not saying that because I know a Peter Parker who's been past all of this, I'm saying it because you're young, and you're going to keep letting people into your heart, and every day you do that is another person who adores you. A lot of that is because of him."

Peter really hates it when people try to tell him that what happened shouldn't have happened because it doesn't change the fact that it did. But right now he doesn't have it in him to argue. His chest feels tight, like there's a hole ripping through him and before he can stop himself, he leans in to lean against Tony and just trying to get his crying back under control.

Feeling very much like he had caused this problem, Tony tensed as Peter started to lean closer, like he thought this was going to be an attack, and had to accept, "Oh, okay," as he figured out what they were doing. He didn't entirely relax, the tears keeping him on edge, but he still welcomed Peter closer with a protective arm around his head to keep him shielded from the rest of the world, and the other squeezing his shoulder despite complaining, "Just don't get snot on me, I hate doing laundry here and this is my last clean shirt."

Peter may have laughed at least a little at that or been a little more self conscious about crying on Tony Stark of all people. Right now all he's concerned about is that he really misses Ben and May's not here and he's just realizing how much it hurts.

He doesn't say anything and just continues to cry until his sobs turn to hiccups. "I'm sorry." he mutters after a while.

That was supposed to shock Peter out of crying for too long, because the longer he continued, the more Tony began to panic that he might start crying too, and his soothing squeeze and pat to Peter's shoulder was about as much for himself with his heart in his throat. He knew being here was hard, but he hadn't really thought about how hard that was adjusting to the reality to it for a long time, especially for a kid who hadn't even left home yet. He was really not doing enough for these kids.

It left him somewhat breathless as he responded, "S'okay, sure," blinking quickly to manufacture a smirk and insist, "You're on laundry duty now, you called it." He carefully leaned back to nudge Peter's face up enough to dab with a restless impatience at his cheeks for him, so they didn't get Tony's glasses wet as he plucked them off to place them onto Peter's nose instead. "Good as new," he announced, though he continued to fuss with Peter's hair like he was about to push him out on stage.

It's weird, there's so much about Tony that feels familiar and yet different. He finally calms down enough to feel the embarrassment pouring in and he's honestly a little grateful for the sunglasses because they hide his eyes.

He doesn't comment on the part about laundry-if Tony really wants him too, he supposed it's the least he could so since he just cried his eyes out on the man. He's not sure how he feels about his hair being played with. Was this really necessary?

Indictment

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