Bad habits

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TW: Drugs, alcohol

The boy went for a late-night walk and wandered around, trying to clear his mind. It was one in the morning and Peter had an essay he needed to submit after 8 hours that he hadn't even started. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Peter was trying his very best to think about how to write the essay, but his mind wanted to think about anything besides that. That's how he found himself in one of Flash's parties.

Peter was wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses. Now every time he went outside this was his go-to outfit because as soon as one person recognized him there would be a crowd of reporters around him just a few minutes later, asking him questions about his nonexisting great plans for Stark industries.

The teen wondered around the masses of sweaty dancing people, with his earbuds in. This was probably the only thing keeping him from going into a sensory overload from all of the lights, smoke, smells, and loud music sounds. When he got through the dancing area he found the drink table.

Peter stood in front of it. He stood and thought about how this could go two ways. He could get out right now. He could go back and write his easy. He could try to get a good grade on it. Or he could lift up one of the bottles, drink it and hopefully forget the thousands of pounds of pressure weighing on his shoulders. He could forget the feeling of walking on the world's highest, most narrow bridge, with mist surrounding him, wind howling around him, trying to throw him off of his balance, and feeling like he had nothing to hold on to. The desperate teen went with the second choice.

Peter drank the liquid inside the bottle and waited for some kind of effect, but nothing happened. He took another bottle. Now the boy knew something was up, this definitely should have made him feel a little bit lightheaded, but he felt just like before. Peter checked the tag on the bottle, it was definitely alcohol. Slowly he came to a realization. Of course, his stupid metabolism was preventing him from getting drunk. The boy clenched the bottle and took a deep breath. He was trying his hardest not to throw the bottle, luckily Peter managed his anger.

After standing there for a couple more moments the teen decided, that maybe this was a sign that he should get home and pretend that this evening never happened. But maybe it wasn't. On his way through the crowd, Peter caught a glimpse of a sketchy bag being passed to a person who in return gave two 20 dollar bills.

Peter didn't hesitate. since the alcohol didn't work, maybe he should try something better. With no problems, the boy got to the man and grabbed him by his jacket. The man turned around looking pissed.

"What do you want?" His voice was deep. Even though he towered over the short boy, Peter showed no signs of fear.

"I want what you gave him," Peter said waving his hand in the direction of the door, through which a kid around his own age was now running through.

"You serious, Stark," 'Shit, he recognized me' Peter thought, "don't worry, I won't tell on you. Wanted to follow daddy's footsteps huh?"

Peter clenched his fists for the second time in an hour and ignored his anger again: "How much do you want?" he asked.

"30 dollars, for a few hours," the man had obviously decided not to tease Peter anymore, he didn't want to lose a client.

"Can I get two of those?" the boy said pulling out the money.

"You're actually going to do it?" The man asked, while hesitantly pulling out two separate bags.

Peter didn't answer, just grabbed the bags and made his way to the exit. For about ten minutes the boy wandered around until he found a quiet alley, where he hid behind a trash can. Peter sent a message to his dad saying: 'I went on a walk with Ned, we went to his house, I'll be back tomorrow. Love you!'

When Peter looked at the clock on his dying phone he freaked out. He was supposed to be in school. Today he had to submit his easy. Only then he realized he was currently sitting against a wall in an alley behind a trash can. The events of last night flowed his mind and he freaked out. How could he be so stupid? Tony was going to kill him. He had done drugs, missed an important assignment, and skipped school. He had never done any of these things before, so he had never gotten into trouble before, not in big trouble anyway.

Peter slowly walked back to the Stark tower. He was a bit scared, but he knew he would have to tell dad the truth or he would find out in some other way, making it even worse.

When the boy got in the elevator he heard his heart beating faster and faster, his palms were sweaty, and deep down he hoped that Tony was in a meeting or doing anything else, but working on something in the penthouse. Peter's hopes did not come true.

"Hey, kid how was school? Did it end early?" Tony stood up and walked to Peter.

Peter felt a wave of guilt go through his entire body. He had such a caring dad, he had everything he needed, so why would he do something like that? He bowed his head and felt silent tears dripping down his cheeks.

When Tony noticed that Peter was crying he slowly led the boy to the couch and sat him down. As soon as they sat down Peter placed his elbows on his legs and hid his face in his palms. A quiet sob escaped him when he felt his father's arm on his shoulder.

"what happened, kiddo?" Tony asked quietly. The man was worried. What happened to his kid? Did somebody hurt him?

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, 'm sorry," was the only thing Peter managed to get out until his voice broke.

Tony was getting really worried. What could Peter do that would leave him in this state: "Calm down, Pete, it's gonna be alright, I just need you to tell me what happened," Tony was now massaging his son's back trying to calm him down.

Peter was afraid, he didn't know how to tell Tony, he didn't know what could explain his behavior.

"S-so I, I, was going for a walk and I got in this party and I tried getting drunk, but it didn't work because of my metabolism," The boy spat out as fast as he could. Tony felt relieved, Peter just had tried to get drunk, of course, he wasn't happy about it but nothing serious had happened. Meanwhile, Peter took a deep breath to continue, "And – and then I saw this man with some sort of drugs, and, and.." Peter couldn't say anything more through the crying.

"Why?" Asked Tony calmly, while on the inside he was freaking out. His kid, his kid had done drugs. 'Why? Am I doing something wrong? Am I putting too much pressure on him? Am I not spending enough time with him?' Tony looked calm, but there were thousands of panicky thoughts running through his mind.

Peter needed time before he could say a word, "I – I –it was just too much, it was too much, I just, I just, I just needed to forget, I'm sorry" He blurted out through sobs.

Tony truly wanted to hug Peter, he wanted to tell his son that everybody makes mistakes, that it's alright. But he knew that in this situation he would want his father to do something else.

Tony got up and stood in front of Peter, who flinched when he felt Tony's touch leave him. The boy looked at his dad. Tony hated himself for the tinny bit of fear in Peter's eyes.

"Peter that is not how to solve your problems. You think – just this one time, but then it's just another and then it becomes an addiction. You no longer can go through your day without it, you can't get out of it. I know Peter it's hard, but you can talk to me. I know, but you're going to regret it. I do." Peter was surprised at Tony's calm and quiet voice.

The boy looked back at his palms, when he realized that his dad was talking from experience: "I'm sorry, I know it was wrong, it won't happen again, I promise."

Tony sat next to Peter with a sigh. He embraced his son into a hug and said: "It's okey, just please don't do that again. If you ever need to talk to anybody I'm always here."

"I won't" Peter whispered, bearly hearable from the tight hug.

"Also, you're grounded for two weeks and no spider-man for a month," Tony said calmly and Peter nodded, he was just thankful for his dad being there.

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