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“Matt?”
“Don’t move, it’ll be alright.”
Peter didn’t know what was going on, he just looked down and saw that there was blood dripping down his fingers. He couldn’t remember where it had come from, or why Matt was with him. There were so many things that he couldn’t figure out, but at the same time, he didn’t have the energy to even think about.
There was a lot of blood.
It seemed to be pooling on Peter’s skin, dripping down in red streams as he sat on the edge of the bathroom counter. Why were they in the bathroom? The blood was going to stain the tile, that wouldn’t be good; Peter doubted that Matt and Foggy’s landlord were going to like that.
Matt’s heart was racing, he could hear that. Matt never got nervous like this - Peter could count on one hand the amount of times he had seen Matthew Murdock absolutely lose his shit - and this was one of them. The older was wrapping something around Peter’s arms, tightly packing on gauze and white bandages that were turning pink. That was a lot of blood - that was the only thought that stayed consistent as he watched Matt do his work.
It wasn’t a wonder of how he was doing so, Peter knew that Matt could do quite a bit of first aid because of his dad and after his dad had passed because of his own late night escapades. “Try to keep your arms elevated, Peter, I’m going to go get some water.”
Water, that sounded good; Peter felt like his mouth was as dry as a desert. He nodded, despite knowing that Matt couldn’t see it, as the other walked out into the main room. His arms were raised as per the man’s request.
Peter didn’t remember why he was where he was. He tried to sort through his recent memory, but could only pick up a few details. He was living with Matt and Foggy for a while, he could remember that now - he’d been crashing on their couch for the past week and a half. It was a blessing in some ways apart from the main reason he was here - being closer to school was a plus. Something had happened at home, an accident maybe? But what Peter knew was that he couldn’t stay there, he was meant to stay with the two lawyers now. That was an interesting development.
Peter stared at the bandages, as they became soaked with blood. Usually, he didn’t bother patching up cuts and scrapes because they healed so quickly, these must have been deeper though - that must have been why Matt had patched him up, the man was thoughtful like that.
*****
Never did filling a glass of water take as long as it did now. Peter, sunny and bright Peter, Matt found him in the bathroom with a…. He didn’t even want to think about it. There was no way that what happened in the past twenty minutes was real, it simply couldn’t be. All of this seemed impossible - Hell even what had happened back at Peter’s house felt impossible - but it was real.
Matt had felt the metal in his hand as he threw it into the toilet, flushing it to where it could do no harm.
The night had been normal, Peter had been staying with him and Foggy since an argument with his aunt - neither of them expected it to go on for this long - though Matt didn’t mind. The kid had come home at his normal time around four, called saying he was going to go out patrolling. That was when Matt filled him in that the two lawyers would be staying at the office a bit later because there had been an overload of cases today. Peter didn’t mind though, he promised that he would be safe and then hung up.
When they were coming home, Foggy said he would pick up dinner. Matt thought he would be home alone - that was greatly proven wrong when he walked into the apartment and the stench of copper filled his nose. It had been so pungent that Matt thought he had opened a wound or something, but he hadn’t been cut up recently - it was coming from somewhere else.
He made his way through the apartment frantically, thinking that Peter must have been hurt and that he was trying to cover it up again. There were some traits that Matt did not enjoy the younger picking up.
Finding the boy curled up in the bathtub, skin stinking of blood, that had been one of the most terrifying moments in Matt’s life. Peter could have died and Matt would have been none the wiser. It had been planned, it had to have been.
Matt made his way back into the bathroom, the copper was still there, but it was dissipating. He handed Peter the glass, “Drink up.”
“Thanks,” Peter mumbled, taking the cup with a shaky hand.
“What happened, Peter? Was there something at school today, did the argument with May get worse? I need to know what caused you to try to-” Matt choked. He didn’t want to say the word. “I just want to help.”
Peter pursed his lips, then let out in the faintest of whispers, “I don’t know what happened, it's all… blurry.”
Matt sighed. He wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulder, hoping that the contact would reassure them both that they weren’t alone. “We’ll talk later alright? When your heads all clear, we can’t just ignore this.”
Peter didn’t say a word.
