To be fair, a lot of people hated spiders. A lot of people were scared of spiders. Spiders were a menace to society.
To be fair, it wasn’t his fault he probably has PTSD from the spider bite.
To be fair, he’d rather be anywhere but here. Hell, he’d rather be getting shot at by armed gunmen than here.
Peter was currently in Avengers Tower in one of the labs, on the ceiling. Tony went out after being called. Peter didn’t really pay attention to where Tony was, but someone needed help with something. He wasn’t in the room though, which was the good thing. God, Mr. Stark would make fun of him for forever if he knew that Spider-Man was scared of spiders.
Peter had noticed the spider and panicked. He jumped back and clinged to the wall and climbed onto the ceiling. All of his memories of the spider bite came back and his body took over.
Peter had been on a field trip to some laboratory and got lost. Granted, he wanted to get away from Flash too. His anxiety had been pretty bad that day and Flash wasn’t helping. He ended up in one of the labs and got startled when someone walked past the room. He ended up bumping into the cage on the table and knocked the lock by accident. Then…boom, he got bitten. He hated spiders already but this just made things worse. He quickly ran out of the lab and found the group. Ned asked if he was okay and he just nodded in response.
When he got home though, that’s when things got weird. He was in so much pain that he was crying. May had been at work, so he could cry without bothering her. And he really didn’t want to go to the hospital. When she got home though, she peeked in the bedroom and saw Peter’s state.
He looked like crap. He was extremely pale and burning up and in so much pain. He couldn’t breathe that well either. She immediately called an ambulance.
Peter woke up the next day hooked up to multiple IVs and felt worse than the day before. May was super concerned and worried and the doctors had no explanation as to what was going on. They were baffled.
The next few weeks were a blur for Peter. He remembered bits and pieces but not much. Ned stopped by multiple times and talked about Star Wars. Ned’s visits made Peter’s time in the hospital bearable.
He ended up going home after like a month. And then he had powers. Granted, weird stuff happened at the hospital. Like hearing a baby crying from down the hallway. Ned didn’t even hear it. And hearing Ned’s heart beating was so weird too. He thought he was dying.
He’s been traumatized of spiders since then. May’s had to kill the spiders since that day.
So now he sat…more like clung…onto the ceiling in the corner of the room shaking and on the verge of crying. He felt completely ridiculous for this fear. It was just a spider, and yet he was terrified.
“Hey, Peter, Tony got stuck helping Bruce with something really quick and said to keep you company…” Sam said before he trailed off when he realized Peter wasn’t in the room. “Peter?”
Sam awkwardly looked around before getting startled when he saw Peter on the ceiling.
“Kid? Jesus,” Sam said as he caught his breath. “What are you doing up there?”
Peter continued staying curled in on himself in the corner.
“Peter? Hey,” Sam said calmly. “Are you okay?”
Peter stayed quiet as he kept shaking slightly.
“Sam? Where’s the kid? I made food and I want him to eat it. I don’t wanna give you food poisoning because you’ll complain and then I’ll have to listen to it,” Bucky said as he walked into the room.
Sam awkwardly pointed to Peter. Bucky froze and stared for a second.
“What happened?” Bucky asked Sam.
“I don’t know. Friday?” Sam asked.
“Mr. Parker seemed to have gotten startled by something and then jumped onto the ceiling,” Friday answered.
“Kid, hey, it’s okay,” Sam said calmly as he tried to coax Peter off the ceiling. “Why don’t you come down here?”
Peter anxiously shook his head.
“Okay, that’s cool. Stay up there. Can you tell me what happened?” Sam asked, his VA training kicking in.
Peter pointed to the desk and Sam and Bucky awkwardly looked at it.
“I’m not understanding,” Sam said before Tony came into the room.
“I’m done with my…” Tony trailed off before seeing Peter gone. “Where’s the kid?”
Bucky and Sam pointed to the ceiling. Tony turned around and jumped back.
“Jesus. What the hell? What are you doing up there?” Tony asked.
“He pointed to the desk,” Sam said.
“I believe Mr. Parker is referring to the fact that there’s a spider on your robot, which is on the table,” Friday said.
“Is that what you’re scared of?” Tony asked, Peter nodding and he curled into himself more. “Kid, it’s a spider. You’re Spider-Man. How are you afraid of spiders?”
“I was in the hospital for a month after getting my powers from the spider bite. I thought I was dying the entire time,” Peter said anxiously as his eyes watered.
Tony sighed. He looked to Sam and Bucky with a sad look.
“Kid, hang on,” Tony said before he left the room.
“Don’t say anything,” Sam threatened to Bucky.
“Say what? That being afraid of spiders is stupid? I tackled you into the water when we were at Sarah’s house because of a spider, Sam. I don’t like spiders either. The fear is completely valid,” Bucky said.
“That’s why you tackled me?!” Sam yelled with a glare. “I thought you did it to annoy me.”
“I got scared of a spider. Don’t blame me,” Bucky defended.
“Move,” Tony said as he came into the room with a flamethrower.
“Tony!” Sam yelled before Tony set the desk on fire.
——
“What happened?” Bruce asked as everyone ran into the hallway, the room having been filled with smoke and flame.
“Friday, activate the fire suppression system,” Tony said in between coughs.
“Confirmed. Fire suppression system activated,” Friday said before the sprinklers came on in the lab.
“Did something catch fire?” Bruce asked before realizing Tony was holding a flame thrower. “Um…Tones, we talked about this. You can’t set stuff on fire because you got upset about it.”
“There was a spider,” Tony said awkwardly.
“Hulk hates spiders too. I get it,” Bruce said before he left the hallway.
“You okay now, kid?” Tony asked Peter, who was staying quiet.
Peter slowly nodded and ran a shaky hand through his hair.
“I made food. Want some?” Bucky asked Peter.
“No,” Sam quickly said. “No he doesn’t want any food you’ve made. No one should suffer that much.”
“Hey,” Bucky whined as he ran after Sam.
“Kid? You sure you’re okay?” Tony asked calmly.
“I am now,” Peter said quietly.
“Good. I want food. You good with Chinese?” Tony asked, Peter nodding slowly. “Cool. Friday, order Chinese.”