Chapter Text
The days that followed Wanda changing Peter’s memory were long and tense. Peter was transported to the closest local hospital to go along with the cover story. When he had woken up he was disoriented and confused as to where he was and to what happened.
The room was silent all but the steady beeping in Peter’s ears as he attempted to remember the last thing that happened.
He had been skipping school. Walking through the park. Then to the street. Then nothing.
The memories started to fade from there, jumbled by either dreams or imagination to Peter. He stayed in the bed, not moving, until a nurse walked in. She had her standard clipboard and friendly-attempted smile, “Good evening, Peter. How are you feeling?”
He felt like he should talk, but he couldn’t bring himself to even utter words. He opened his mouth just to close it and give a shrug. Her smile slightly shifted but kept true to its pose. “That’s alright, you don’t have to talk. I’m going to explain a few things to you to make sure your memory is intact.” Peter nodded, allowing her to continue.
“Today is November 13th, 2015 correct?” Peter agreed, not fully sure of the date, but of the year. “Your name is Peter Benjamin Parker?” Another nod, “You are currently 14 years old?” Peter felt like he was older, but nodded again. He was starting to grow tired again. His eyes were slowly drooping, but she continued, “Do you know Martin or Amanda Gonzalez?”
That one, Peter did not know. He shook his head, confusion now swarming his head. Who were they? He frowned, not going unnoticed by the nurse, “It’s alright if you don’t remember, you weren’t suspected to remember much after the accident.”
There was an accident? He tilted his head, trying to use body language to ask what it was, “You were crossing the street and was struck by a car before being brought here. It was shown that you hit your head so it would be understandable that your memory would be affected, although I’m impressed it was not more damaged.” She wrote more notes on her paper. “I’m going to let you rest now. Your new social worker will be here in the morning to discuss new living conditions.”
New social worker? What happened to Mr. Reed? He questioned as the nurse left him in silence. He tried to fight the sleep that was drowning him, he wondered what all this meant for him.
He fell into a fitful sleep.
When Tony landed on the Tower. He immediately went to his lab to find and track Peter. He spent the next hours, not greeting anyone or even announcing his presence, but digging into all the reports on the raid. At the end of a 5 hour mission, he found a medical report.
Peter was alive and in the hospital.
Not regarding his own health he read through the report.
“Peter B. Parker was transported early this morning to the hospital due to a reported hit and run. His memory has been proven to be damaged from the accident. Memory loss estimate is 4 months and 2 weeks. No knowledge of events regarding the events that took place at the Gonzalez’s residence.”
“Patient struggles with communication, suspected leading cause: Selective Mutism due to trauma.” Tony skipped the rest of the report up until the last line. “Will be released in new social workers custody; Jessica Wood.”
Tony was not aware of his fastened breath until it hitched and made him take a deep breath. It took him minutes to calm down and steady his breathing. Minutes more to understand fully what happened. He is going to cancel and delay the internship until he knew Peter was situated. And he was going to closely monitor the boy.
Tony woke up abruptly from his sleep when a voice lured him out, “Tony? Tony, you alright?” Rhodey shook his shoulders, “You aren’t drunk right?” His voice tense as he looked around for bottles.
“What?” Tony didn’t understand until he realized what he meant, “God, no of course not.”
“Then why did I find you passed out here?” He raised an eyebrow in confusion yet concern.
“I was looking into something, just lost track of time and crashed I guess.” He sat up and stretched before asking, “What’s the reason you came to check up on me?”
“Well we didn’t even know you were here until Friday said you were in the lab unresponsive.” He said bluntly, “What were you looking into?” Rhodey was curious as he leaned against the neighboring table.
Tony seemed to think about it before he said anything, “It’s, uh, nothing.” He did not want to rope in anyone else. He was going to deal with all of this himself before even mentioning anything. “You guys have breakfast yet?” He asked after glancing at the time.
“No, but I’d clean up if I were you. You look terrible.” Rhodey half joked, but was serious.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll take a quick shower, don’t let Legolas steal all the food.” He made Rhodey promise before heading to his floor.
After he cleaned himself up he joined the rest of the team in the common room. Some were in hushed conversations but stopped when he walked in luckily it went unnoticed by Tony. He hastily made his way to the coffee machine firstly before even greeting anyone, it wasn’t really new or out of character for him so everyone finished their conversations and did what they always did before breakfast.
Wanda was cooking breakfast today while Vision gave her the recipe and ingredients. Tony sat down and brought out his phone but was interrupted by a voice, “Tony, we have to tell you something that happened while you were gone.” Steve came up behind him and took a seat next to him with his serious face.
“Go on.” Tony said dramatically, his mind was mostly thinking of Peter.
“Thor gave us a warning that something is going to happen soon. There isn’t any more information but he said it had to have been big for Heimdall to see it.” Why does the world have to always be ending? He thought to himself as he sighed.
“What’s new? Almost every other month there’s something.” He huffed out, Steve was slightly shocked he said something so cynical but Tony spoke again, “I’m guessing Loki will be here as well?” Steve nodded, adding to Tony’s annoyance. He did not like Loki.
“Natasha and I are following a lead today but it probably will be a dead end.” Steve said while getting up from his chair, “We leave now. I hope to trust you not to hole yourself up?” Tony knew what he meant, and that it was not meant to be rude, but caring.
“Yeah, I got things to do anyway with the company.” Tony knew he meant just Peter, but no one else did. Steve nodded and headed out right when Wanda announced breakfast was ready.
Clint and Sam were oddly silent during the meal, which made Tony think something more happened but didn’t feel like asking. The meal went by fast, everyone was going by their own pace but left as they finished leaving Tony and Bruce, who also looked a little confused by the team's attitude today.
“You notice how quiet they were?” Bruce broke the silence with his question of concern. “I don't think they were this quiet since Steve found out his friend was The Winter Soldier.” He added while gathering the plates and silverware he used to be washed.
“Yeah, I thought it was weird too. But if it was really important, they would tell us so I’m not really worried about it.” Bruce seemed thoughtful at Tony’s comment before nodded looking resigned, “I’m going to head to the lab to do godawful paperwork.” He said standing.
Bruce lightly chuckled at his dramatics, “Oh no, whatever shall you do.” He joked.
They parted ways at the elevator and Tony got to work.
It had been 5 days since Peter first woke up in the hospital. He was introduced to the social worker Ms. Woods the second day, and moved into a group home on the fourth day.
The home was collectively well kept. There was barely any mess in the living areas that were lined with bunk beds and desks for the children and older teens that stayed there.
Peter was given his personal belongings from his book bag the police gave back. It consisted of the only picture he had of his parents as well as a few small pictures of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. A notebook that he uses to write what he’s thinking or when he’s talked to. A few pencils scattered at the bottom. He completely forgot about the necklace that Ben gave him before he died. It was completely silver with a black center. He now carried with him wherever he went.
Now he was seated inside the principal's office waiting for his social worker to finish paperwork for him to continue to go to Midtown. Even the principal had a look of pity on him, and he hated it.
Everyone was treating him differently because he lost his memory. Everyone was treating him differently because of what happened to the Gonzalez’s, in which he still did not remember.
The paperwork was signed in front of him as they asked yes or no questions so he could nod or shake his head. He would still be able to go to Midtown, but would need to have weekly checkups for at least a month by someone that was assigned as a temporary therapist in school during his study hall period. He was pushed towards the idea of joining the Academic Decathlon team but was thinking it over. He didn’t like the idea that everyone would still treat him differently, treat him like he was broken.
He didn’t doubt he was broken, but he just didn’t want others to know.
As Ms. Wood finished the last papers, explaining the new conditions in staying at Midtown while living on the far side of Queens he just wanted to go back to Chemistry. He was also placed in other classes after someone noticed how smart he was, so now he had to deal with new people.
“Okay, now that everything is in order, do you want to go back to class now or I could have you go to the library instead for today.” Mr. Morita spoke softly, again his voice sapping with pity. Peter wanted to go to his class and just deal with the new people, but he didn’t feel like interacting with anyone really. ‘Library please.’ He wrote in his notebook.
The principal offered a small smile and lead him towards the Library, Ms. Wood not far behind. The Library was practically empty with only a handful of other students that were scattered throughout the tables and couches. “You can choose your seat, no one will bother you and if anything happens just come back to my office.” Principal Morita said before departing back to his office. Ms. Wood took a look around and pat Peter on the back before making her way out the building.
Peter pulled out his missing assignments and work he needed to catch up on and got to work.
It took him only an hour to finish all 23 assignments that he was missing, and only one more to catch up on four out of the six classes he had. He was getting more and more distracted by the kid that slowly was making his way to him. Hopping seats and acting like he wasn’t getting caught by Peter by looking away.
After a few minutes more of seeing the kid get only one table away he flipped to his notebook and wrote something before standing up and giving it to him. ‘Why are you getting closer to me?’
The boy looked guilty but Peter noticed there was no pity in his expression before he spoke, “I heard that you were moved into more advanced classes and was wondering if you wanted to partner with me for an upcoming one?” Peter didn’t know what to say, well or at least do, “My names Harry by the way,” He took his hand out to shake.
Peter stared at his hand for a few seconds before hesitantly reaching for it, making them shake hands weakly. He did not know why he even agreed by nodding, but he soon found himself in a half conversation with Harry about the class and school.
“I’m a sophomore, but I was overhearing my teachers say they were wanting you to be moved up so I wanted to help you out with whatever you needed if you want.” He explained as they sat on the couch with their school laptops in their laps. Peter noticed Harry had not once given him a look of pity, or any emotion that was disguised as another. He was genuine, which made Peter happier than he was before, thinking he made a friend.
“Would you like to come over to my house or somewhere and work on this more sometime?” Peter also liked how Harry usually asked yes or no questions instead of making it where Peter had to constantly write his response. He nodded. “Great, I’ll tell you at the end of the day where I usually go to study.” He said before going to his next class.
Peter continued to do things around the Library. Whether it be reading a book or looking at the different students, figuring out who they were from afar. He stayed in the Library during lunch too, not wanting to deal with the long line of people that would stare and talk about him.
At the end of the day, Harry, true to his word, came back to the Library to talk to him about meeting up. “I stay in this hole-in-the-wall bookstore that also is a cafe down the street from a park I sometimes go to. Do you have a phone?” Peter shook his head, he didn’t see the point in having a phone, no one to talk to. Harry seemed to think about something before continuing, “I’ll be there around 5 this evening if you want to join me.” Peter quickly wrote his response, ‘Sure.’ . “Great! See you then, Peter!” He said before getting back to his class for the last bell to ring.
Once the last bell rang throughout the school, Peter still stayed in the Library, thinking about everything that he couldn’t remember. Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez were his previous foster parents until an ‘accident’ happened from what his new social worker said. His old social worker, Mr. Reed had been fired and under investigation. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know what happened to the Gonzalez’s. And he didn’t know what the ‘accident’ was.