Hidden

It had been a few hours and Peter was awake and eating breakfast. Tony had convinced Banner to let Peter out that afternoon and let him handle getting him help for the cutting after he healed up from the explosion. Peter wasn’t still upset at Tony he never really was but he didn’t know what to say to him because he didn’t think that he would want to talk to him after the way he acted. So they just sat in silence as Peter ate his breakfast.

“ So I got Banner to let you out of here this afternoon, there are some stipulations like you can't leave the tower unaccompanied and you need to rest a lot but at least you’ll be in your own bed instead of this room.” Tony said, trying to spark conversation. 

“Thank you, Mr. Stark.” Peter replied in between bites of food refusing eye contact.

“I just wanted to let you know I'm here to talk but only if you want, ok?” Tony said trying to be there the best he could without pushing him.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark but I'm okay. I just want things to go back to normal after this.” Peter replied not wanting to continue the conversation.

“And it will but it will take time and you do need help and that's okay.” He said, trying to convince him.

“Okay.” Peter replied with no intent of taking Tony's offer but not wanting to fight him. 

“Good, I'm going to go make sure your room is ready for when you discharge.” Tony said with a smile as he left the room. He knew that this wasn’t going to be easy with Peter but he hoped that maybe him agreeing was a good sign. 

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

It was time for Peter to be released and Tony was in med bay with him helping him with whatever he allowed him to. 

“Ready to go?” Tony asked cheerfully.

“Yep.” He replied not quite able to match his cheerfulness.

They had made their way out of medbay and up to his room Peter was so tired and he didn’t know if it was from the sheer physical pain he was in or from the mental exhaustion of the situation. But he didn't really care about figuring it out. He just wanted to wear his clothes and sleep in his bed instead of the one in medbay. 

“Dinner is going to be in about an hour thought we could do pizza and a movie. Do you want me to hang out with you in here or want me to go?” Tony asked calmly.

“I think I want to get cleaned up and changed  if that's okay.” Peter replied.

“Yeah no problem, I'll have Friday to call you down when dinner is ready.” Tony said before leaving.

Peter was relieved when Tony left he needed a moment alone before having to face everyone at dinner. He walked into the bathroom to get cleaned up as he undressed he saw all the bandages covering his body. He stared in the mirror as he examined himself, his eyes lingering at the large bandages covering his thighs and wrist. He carefully peeled them off revealing the cuts and scars that adorned his body.

“ No ones going to want to be seen with such a freak anyway, why not add more?” The voice in his head echoed.

Peter tried to ignore it and quickly got dressed trying to resist the temptation to get the blade that was in the small box under the sink and dragging it across his thighs until all he could see was red. He kept playing the scenario in his head over and over regardless of how much he tried not to think about it. He left the bathroom and layed on the bed hoping to fall asleep before he couldn’t resist any longer. 

“I know you want to. Don’t you miss the feeling?” The voice tried to convince.

Peter covered his head with his pillow and let out a muffled scream as if that would drown out the voice that was in his head. He screamed until he cried, he cried thinking of the events of the past 3 days, the explosion, everyone finding out about his habits, his fight with Tony he couldn't handle it. He walked almost on autopilot to the bathroom still teary-eyed and grabbed the small box he kept under his sink and grabbed the all too familiar razor blade and sat down on the floor.

“ I knew you’d give in” The voice taunted

With that he took a deep breath in before slowly starting to drag the blade across his thigh, blood dripping as he went. He had stopped crying as he continued to drag the blade over and over again at least another five or six times before he put the blade away. 

He looked at his bloody thigh realizing what he had actually just done quickly he grabbed a towel, pressing it onto his thigh to stop the bleeding before grabbing the first aid kit and wrapping it in gauze.  

He had started to clean up the blood off the floor and his hands trying to not leave anything for anyone to find, but before he could finish  Friday alerted Tony would be up to get him for dinner in a few moments.

“Has it really been an hour?” Peter thought to himself frantically using the towel to clean up whatever blood was still on the floor before throwing it into the shower and closing the curtain. He splashed his face with water and went to sit on his bed until Tony got there which he knew wouldn’t be long.

There was a knock at the door followed by Tony coming in.

“Ready to come down?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, let's go.” Peter said, trying to sound cheerful so as to not have Tony ask any questions.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they arrived in the common area Peter saw all of the others staring at him. It made him want to go back upstairs and not come back down. Tony saw Peter getting uncomfortable with all the attention on him.

“Glad you're doing better Peter.” Steve said, giving him a small smile before turning his attention back to whatever he was doing. 

“Thank you.”He replied quietly.

“How about you grab some pizza then we can all go pick out a movie okay?” Tony asked before getting his own slice and going to sit.

“Okay Mr. Stark.” Peter said before grabbing a slice and heading over to sit by Tony.

“So what are we watching?”  Clint asked.

“We should watch The Hunger Games, it's Clint’s favorite.” Natasha said through a grin.

Clint through the stick he was twirling at her resulting in everyone laughing even Peter which made Tony smile more.

“Well as much as Legolas here would love that I'd have to disagree. What do you think Peter?” Tony asked.

“Maybe Star Wars?” He said in a questioning tone.

“I think we’d all like that, anyone in disagreement?” Tony asked and when no one responded set up the movie.

They all sat around and watched it and Peter felt normal for the first time in the past few days. And felt somewhat happy for the first time in even longer. 

Around halfway through the movie Tony looked over to see Peter had fallen asleep and before the movie was over he had also drifted off. 

Clint wanted to take a picture but Steve wouldn't let him, he didn’t see Natasha take one though. The others went to their own respective spaces leaving Tony and Peter peacefully sleeping on the couch.