Chapter Text
Peter was practically vibrating when Friday finally came, he couldn’t wait for school to end so he and Ben could finally go to the bunker, “ Dude, you good? You look like your about to take off” Ned asked eyeing him worriedly
Shifting his weight for the hundredth time that lesson Peter shot Ned an exited grin “ yeah I`m just like so ready for school to end you know? 15 minutes Ned 15 and then we have the whole weekend to do what we want, did you know me and Ben are going to start a new project and I`m just like so ready for it” he rambled all in one breath as he once again glanced fervently at the clock bouncing his knee in anticipation
“ Whoa, dude calm down you’re literally going to combust” giggling at his friend`s infectious energy he tried to hold Peters knee in place “ whatcha guys going to work on? Because if you make another light sabre we could totally do a three way fight!”
“ nuh uh, we`re going to make. An. Underground. Base!” he whispered, eyes gleaming as they watched Neds face go slack,
“ no way” Ned breathed in awe at how freaking cool that was “ how are you going to do it?” he was now fully facing Peter, completely ignoring the class happening around them
“ I found a super cool bunker! Like so cool, little dirty but I-“ Mister Parker, Leeds are you with us?” the stern tone of their English teacher cutting Peters rambling off with a stern glare at the two, sharing an embarrassed glance Peter and Ned both muttered apologizes, faces heating up with the stared from their classmates as Flash snickered to his friends.
As soon as the bell rang Peter was sprinting out the building hoping to escape the stampede of students racing to get home for the weekend, rounding the corner he began heading towards Chinatown chest heaving from his short sprint.
“ alright lets have a look at it then” Ben grinned rubbing his hands together in anticipation as he crouched next to the old elevator Peter had taken apart on Wednesday, “ looks pretty worn down” he muttered examining the rust decorating the shaft “ alright, champ looks like we`re going to be replacing this old thing. now, where do you reckoned we could get ourselves a bit of metal?” bounding over to nearby bushes Peter pulled out the metal beams he`d gotten when he originally found the place, smirking at his uncles surprised face,
“ Blimy you really are prepared” Ben chuckled inspecting the beams carefully before grabbing his and Peters matching tool kits, placing them between the two before getting to work securing the beams inside the elevator shaft, careful not to get impaled on the jagged edges, Peter however began inspecting the fuse box for anything salvageable before slowly replacing each wire from the bag of scrap he`d found in the dumpster, the two of them worked in tandem chatting about school and work and just whatever came up really, including at one point whether or not you could hypothetically train an army of crows to do your bidding if you rewarded them with grapes, Ben thought they would be to chaotic but Peter had hope.
By the time Sunday evening came they had a fully functional elevator, after many trips to the dumpster and many more to the never ending construction sites that constantly littered New York.
“ I`m telling you May someday he`s going to change the world, I just know it! you should’ve seen him with the traction machine, absolutely perfect! Managed to completely rebuild it with those bicycles and old bag of trampoline springs we found in just under three hours! Runs smoother than most elevators this side of central park I bet.” The two had just gotten back for the day before Ben began telling May all about their day, she had been pretending to know what a traction machine was for about ten minutes, nodding and laughing whenever deemed appropriate, but by the blinding smile Ben wore she knew her nephew had done well.
“ I don’t doubt it, our own little Einstein” her voice was warm and proud as she stirred the slightly pungent smelling soup but Peters body couldn’t help the full body flinch at her words, his body fighting to just get out, to hide behind Ben or May even though logically he knew she didn’t know what that word meant, knew that he wasn’t there and never would be now that he had escaped that nightmare, but his body didn’t behave logically as it stiffened and curled into itself ever so slightly, limbs collapsing into themselves just enough to notice, as May and Ben laughed somewhere far, far away, their voices getting distant as the noise of rushing blood filled his ears,
the sound of that cold condescending laughter “ oh come on Einstein it`s just a game, you like games don’t you?” those icy blue eyes that always seemed to put the social workers at ease.
The thump of his pounding heart racing through his body like a caged animal looking for escape until, “ Peter?” the sound of Mays voice, now laced with worry instead of pride making his breaths come hard and fast “ hey, hey Pete what-what`s happening? Ben?” the sound of scraping chairs sounded distant to Peter, as if he wasn’t really there but a spectator to his own life,
“ Peter look at me” Bens voice cut through the static as he knelt down next to him, not touching but there, “Pete look at me, focus on my breathing yeah” following the exaggerated breaths of his uncle, his lungs fighting for the air it craved he took one stuttering breath, then two, the third coming easier, smoother then the last, lungs expanding with beautiful, underappreciated oxygen as his breathing slowed, his vision clearing from the images from magazines depicting his own hell, replaced by the face of Ben looking anxious yet professional, his police training kicking in as it had each time something like this happened, Peter wasn’t a stranger to panic attacks, he had been getting them since he was six, since he left that red bricked house with its big windows and dark secrets, he didn’t know what Ben and May thought they were from, he never told them so he assumed they thought it was related to his parents, or maybe school.
May had backed into the corner, hand over her mouth as tears flooding her cheeks while Ben calmed him down, he knew she worried and he felt terrible for ruining the moment, penis Parker cant even hear a name without breaking down he thought bitterly, wiping the tears he hadn’t noticed fall away, the first time Flash had called him that name he had frozen in place, bolting for the nearest bathroom, he remembered collapsing into a stall, he remembered his fist in his mouth smothering the hiccupping, wounded sounds that would slipped out as he sobbed his little heart out for hours hidden away, unfortunately Flash had thought he was upset at the name not the implications and continued to call him that, forcing Peter to hear that name everyday for years so far until he no longer flinched or grabbed onto Ned`s jumper.
He was sure that if Flash knew what had happened he would stop the name calling instantly, especially the ones relating to such body parts, but he didn’t so he wouldn’t.
“ do you want to tell us what happened?” Bens gentle voice bringing him back to the current situation. Shaking his head slightly as he always did whenever that question was uttered, Ben frowned slightly in a mix of anxiety and despair, “ okay, but you know you can tell us anything bud, anything at all and we wont get angry or, or whatever it is your scared will happen if you tell us okay? We can work it out.” Cringing Peter nodded his head, eyes glued to the floor, twisting the material of his shirt between his fingers.
Ben`s face remained the picture of gentle caring guardian as he slowly stood back up pulling Peter with him, but his eyes could never lie, Peter could see the sadness, the desperation to just know what was wrong, to know why this happened, to help. He didn’t like keeping things from them, didn’t like lying but whenever he would begin to explain, it was as if there was something invisible lodged in his throat, physically stopping him from uttering a single damming syllable.
“ why don’t you sit here for a minute while me and May serve dinner” offering a small smile as he gestured to the couch he disappeared into the kitchen followed closely by May, leaving Peter time to calm down and remove any evidence of his… episode.