Peter dragged himself through the tower and to the elevator. Peter likes fighting with the avengers but GOD! They fight at a whole new capacity than his usual stop a robbery and get a kitten out of a tree.
One of the downfalls of working with the avengers, peter decides, is their inability to see past his age. The others aren’t to bad about sneaking past the taboo subject, but Sam and Clint like to take the piss out of him every opportunity they get.
Without fail, they always take their taunts and jokes to far and, once more, without fail they never apologize or attempt to reconcile in anyway. And guess what? Peter is Tired. Of. It. During the fight Sam thought it would be funny to lift him into the air like a little baby. Cut forward through some similar jokes and it brings us back to Peter, now leaving the elevator with his arm in a sling and a mood that could rival a particularly vicious soccer mom and an icy stare that could freeze anyone to their core.
As he trudges through the common room he comes to an abrupt halt.
“Peter, come eat dinner before you go in your room. We both know you’ll fall asleep and it’s not good for your metabolism to-“ Mama Bear Steve is cut off.
“Okay Captain, I’ll be right there.”
Peter steels himself to deal with Sam and Clint and walks into the dining area. When his eyes catch Sam’s he raises his shoulders and squares his jaw, waiting to be the joke, but all he gets is a laugh from Clint and a smirk from Sam.
“Okay tough guy, sit your ass down before we end up going a few rounds”, Sam quips teasingly.
Has it been mentioned that Peter is tired of this? Because he slides a telling mask on his face and no one messes with him for the rest of dinner.
Once his dishes are cleared, he excuses himself and starts his trek to his room once more. He hops in to the shower in his ensuite bathroom and then promptly passes out face first on his bed with wet hair, an oversized t-shirt and boxers.
— — — — —
There is yelling. It is loud and his ears feel like they’re bleeding.
Peter feels a strong sense of deja vu and his blood turns cold. He knows where he is. He knows When he is.
He listens closely as the fog clears and identifies the yelling as uncle Ben, and if that doesn’t make his heart stop for a few seconds, then it sure as hell feels like it.
“PETER, YOU HAVE TO TALK TO US. IT IS YOUR JOB TO COME TO US IF YOU HAVE ISSUES, NOT START SWINGING! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW EMBARRASSED I WAS TO GET THE CALL THAT YOU’D BEEN SUSPENDED?”
Even though Peter knows the outcome he can’t help the words that get ripped out of his chest and suddenly he’s yelling back.
“WELL I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO COME TO YOU. YOU NEVER SIGNED UP FOR ME AND I KNOW YOU NEVER WANTED KIDS!”
Ben’s face hardens and suddenly Peter feels little again.
“Is that what you really think? That we don’t want you? That we don’t love you? Okay. No more movie nights, no more baseball games, no more science fairs. Nothing. If you think I don’t care then I won’t.” He speaks softly but with a sharpness that could cut through Peter.
“You don’t mean that Ben, I’m sorry.”
“No, I do. If you think that May and I wouldn’t sacrifice everything for you then I’m done caring.”
“FINE!”, He runs out of the building and doesn’t look back. By midnight he’s sitting on the fire escape of a local building, waiting to go home.
RING RING RING- Ben’s calling it. While the back of his mind screams to answer because he knows what the outcome is if he doesn’t, he just can’t.
1 voicemail from uncle Ben.
An hour later finds him walking into a 7/11. As he walks in a man clearly causing trouble runs out, but he doesn’t have it in him to stop the man. So he walks back out and works up the courage to go home.
And then his world stops.
He’s 5 minutes from home when the gun goes off and he looks to his left as uncle Ben falls to the unforgiving pavement.
He was so close to home.
Blood and sirens and he feels sick. He’s holding Ben’s hand and his ears are ringing and oh god uncle Ben.
“I love you Ben I’m so sorry I need you to stay with me plea-“
“I forgive you Peter. Listen to the voicemail.” And Ben fades out of the living world.
More sirens and aunt May is crying and funeral arrangements and he is gone.
— — — — —
Friday is set to alert any avenger that is awake when one of them is having a nightmare that is quickly escalating and could end in physical harm or severe emotional distress.
So of course Sam and Clint are the last two awake, sitting on the couch and talking when Friday announces that, ”Mr.Parker seems to be in distress”, and of course they go to check on him.
When they walk in and see Peter crying lightly and they snort. Sure he’s in “distress”. He looks upset but not enough to be “distressed”. They hear a soft and warm voice claiming to love him and that’s when they see the phone.
He is crying after all so why not make a couple of jokes to make him feel better? Bad choice.
Clint barrels further into the room and grabs the phone, all while laughing.
“Clint. Give it back. Now.”
The adults share a startled look at his tone but decide to push on.
“What, you want to keep your boyfriend’s voicemail private? Nah, let’s here it Parker!”
It’s at this point that Friday calls the others, sensing the increase in Peter’s heart rate.
Clint’s thumb hovers over the play button and it begins.
“Peter please pick up. You were right; I didn’t mean what I said and I need to see you.”
“DRAMA!” Clint shouts.
“I don’t want you to think for one second that just because I didn’t ‘sign up for you’ that you aren’t the best thing I have ever done with my life.”
Sam and Clint feel weird. They know they shouldn’t listen but this kid has never had secrets before. They’re intrigued by the unfamiliar voice and odd message. They can be so stupid sometimes.
“I love taking you to games and going to science fairs. The day I got you was the worst and best day of my life. I lost my brother but I got you. Your father would be so proud of you. You are smart just like him and your heart is made of pure gold. I love you so much. Please just come home and we can talk this out. I know it’s not like you to start punching for no reason and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to your side of the story. You light up my world, Peter. May is threatening to kill me for how we left things and we’re worried sick. Please just Come. Home. We can watch Star Wars and deal with this tomorrow. I’ll see you soon buddy.”
Sam looks pale and Clint nearly throws up and that is when the rest of the avengers walk in to see that Peter has spiraled into a violent panic attack and Clint drops the stolen phone on to the floor. The previously unread contact name: Uncle Ben shines brightly from the phone and the entire team blanches as Natasha rushes to the young hero followed by a stunned Tony and Steve halls Sam and Clint out of the room absolutely livid.
They screwed up.