They Saw the Whole Thing
“Movie time!” Clint cried, throwing himself on the couch. He stretched out dramatically, laying his head on Natasha’s lap, who gave him a disgusted look. Bucky chuckled, leaning back in his armchair.
“Please tell me we’re not watching Mad Max again,” Steve sighed. “I can’t take another second of Bruce complaining about the physics.”
“It doesn’t make sense, though!” Bruce said, gesturing wildly. “The dynamics alone-”
“It’s an action movie,” Tony groaned. “It doesn’t have to make sense!”
“I can’t here what you all are saying,” Clint sing-songed, turning the volume on his hearing aids down. He chuckled when Tony flipped him off. “Okay, well I caught that.”
“Catch ‘Em in the Act Protocol activated,” FRIDAY’s cool voice interrupted their squabbling. Tony frowned.
“FRIDAY? What did you say?”
“Catch ‘Em in the Act Protocol activated,” FRIDAY restated. Steve sat up, looking worried. Catching on to the change of tone, Clint turned his hearing aids back up.
“Do you think somethings wrong?” Steve asked Tony. “I don’t think he’s used that particular feature before.”
“No, he hasn’t,” Tony murmured, then louder. “FRIDAY, project the footage onto the big screen please.”
“Right away, sir.” The TV screen showed the image, of an empty alleyway. The audio was rather tinny, but didn’t seem to show anything interesting.
“Huh,” Nat said. “I guess he must’ve-”
“Stop it, please! I don’t want to play this game anymore!” The voice of a young girl filtered through, causing everyone in the room to freeze. Clint’s eyes narrowed.
Then the view shifted as Spidey looked through a window. Bucky let out a cry of shock, and Steve’s face paled. There was an older man, crouched over a little girl, grinning predatorially.
“That bastard,” Clint snarled, fists gripping the couch.
Bruce swore.
Peter crashed through the window.
“GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER!” Peter’s voice was loud enough that the audio buzzed. Tony flinched; he’d never heard Pete that angry before. Bucky sighed in relief as Peter quickly knocked the guy out.
“Holy shit,” He said. “Well, now we know why the protocol was activated. Jesus.” Bruce looked green around the edges, and Nat sat unusually still and silent, face as cold as stone.
Tony chuckled nervously.
“So, um do you guys want . . .” He trailed off as Peter’s voice came again through the speakers.
“I’m gonna tell you a story, one that I haven’t told anyone before.” Thor’s head tilted in confusion, but Natasha looked wary, almost nervous. Her hands clenched in her lap.
“There was a little boy a while ago, who had a loving aunt and uncle, but both of them had to work. They hired a babysitter to watch him while they were away. The babysitter loved to play with him, but he soon started doing things that the boy didn’t like. He showed him pictures, weird ones and gross ones with people doing gross things. Soon, the babysitter started doing those things to the boy, every single time he came over.”
Nat stiffened, eyes going wide.
“Нет. Нет маленький паук, а не ты.” Her voice was soft, barely audible. Clint let out a cry and pressed his hand against his mouth.
“What-” Tony’s voice was hoarse. For some reason, he felt slightly sick. “What is it?” Clint shook his head silently. Unaware of their eye’s upon him, Peter continued.
“The boy was ashamed. He felt dirty and rotten, like something was wrong inside of him. He didn’t want to tell his aunt and uncle what was happening, because he was afraid of what they’d say. Eventually though, one of his teachers started asking questions about the marks on him. So, finally, the boy told someone.”
No.
No.
Not him. Please not him.
“What happened then?”
Bruce met Tony’s gaze from across the room. His eyes were green.
“They were angry, but not at the boy. They fired the babysitter and made it so he could never play games like that with any boy ever again. And the boy was okay. It was hard to learn how not to be afraid anymore, but he did with a lot of help.” The little girl smiled. “You wanna know how I know this?”
There was a creak as Steve’s finger left dents in the arms of his chair.
“How?”
“That little boy was me.”
A low cry filled the room, and Tony realized after a moment that the sound was coming from him. He lurched forward, ending up on his knees on the carpeted floor.
That little boy was me.
Bruce staggered from the room.
Tony couldn’t- he couldn’t breathe-
That little boy was me.
“Breathe, Tony.” Steve’s hand against his back. “It’ll be okay.”
“No, not him,” Tony gasped. “Pete. Oh God, Pete.” He curled into himself more, throat closing up.
Clint yelled, and a glass smashed against the wall. Thunder rumbled outside.
The video shut off. Steve set down the remote with trembling fingers.
A quiet sob drifted from the corner of the couch, and Tony looked up to meet Natasha’s gaze, her eyes as tear-filled as his.
“He never said anything,” Tony said. “He-he never said anything.”
“He wouldn’t have,” Clint’s eye were vacant. “God, I can’t- he probably wanted to spare us the pain.”
Pain. He would’ve felt so alone, so scared and helpless, fighting against a person who, who-
Tony staggered upright and raced to the sink. He vomited.
“Oh, Tony,” Steve sighed, and went to help him.
Bucky still didn’t move.
“Bucky?” Clint said. “You okay pal?” Bucky flinched and shook his head.
“He’s Peter,” He choked. “He’s supposed to be safe.”
Thor let Mjolnir fall, and didn’t pick it up again.
"We need to talk to him," Natasha's voice was much steadier than her hands. "We need to talk to him when he gets back." She looked up, and her gaze was made of fire.
"Noone touches our Spider."