Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey! Didn’t you ever learn about consent?” Spider-Man said as he gracefully landed next to a man that cornered a woman into an alley.

”Fuck off, Bug,” the man replied.

”Arachnid,” Peter mumbled to himself before saying, “and here I thought I was dealing with a simple minded guy that believes in hurting women. But no! You’re real Shakespearean,” Shooting a web at the man’s hand and pinning it to the wall behind him while he spoke.

Peter looked over at the woman that was staring at him, completely frozen in fear. “Do you have a phone on you?”

She nodded quickly.

”Call the cops.” He shot another web at the man, sticking the rest of his body to the wall, “and go home, I’ll make sure you get there safely, alright?”

”Thank you, Spider-Man” she said as she pulled out her phone, dialed 9-1-1, and ran towards the street.

Peter watched the woman turn the corner before switching his gaze back to the man now webbed to the wall, “Well, the cops will be on their way, so make sure to stick around. Get- Get it? Stick? Like the webs?”

”Fuck you.”

”Ohh burn, how did you come up with that one? Well I gotta run- or well- swing,” he said as he shot a web to the top of a nearby building and took off, toward the woman.

-

Tony was in the lab working on his suit when F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke through the speakers, “Boss, Ms. Romanov has requested to speak to you.”

“Tell her to Fuck off, F.R.I.D.A.Y.. I’m busy.” He was busy- or trying to be busy. He had locked himself in his lab the previous night after another one of his fun flashbacks of ‘The Incident’ or what he calls, ‘The time he almost died in space, and then managed to fall, almost to his death, instead’.

“Boss, Ms. Romanov had told me to inform you that if you don’t let her in, she is going to get Ms. Boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.

“Fine- Lets just get this over with.” Tony quickly said, not wanting Pepper to force him to eat and/or sleep. The door opens as Natasha steps inside, face showing no emotion whatsoever… as usual.

“Tony-”

“Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“I’m sure.” she says after seeing Tony fidgeting with the screwdriver in his hand.

“Spit it out- What is it?”

“It’s Fury.”

“Yeah, so? What about him?”

Natasha scoffed, “He wants to talk to us.”

“What’d we do?”

“We’ll find out. When he talks to us.”

”Fine, whatever.” Tony turned back to look at his gauntlet he was messing with. After a few moments, Natasha didn't seem to move at all so he turned back around to find her staring at him with her arms crossed. “Oh- Shit you mean now?”

She gave him a terrifying glare before walking out the room.

“Could’ve just said that,” he muttered before getting up and following her to the common room on the Avenger’s shared floor.
-

When they entered the common space, Tony seemed to be the last one there. Well, besides Thor, who was currently off world doing- well whatever the fuck he did when he wasn’t on earth and Banner, who was- well he didn’t know where, actually. Natasha walked over to the living room, where everyone was, sitting on the arm rest of the seat that Clint was in. Tony walked over and sat in the other seat. Steve was sitting on the couch. After a few moments of awkward silence, Tony couldn’t take it anymore and decided to speak.

”This meeting is going great so far. I’m so glad you dragged me out of the lab.”

”We are just waiting on Fury.”

”Goody. Do any of you know why we are gathered here? Or are we just going to wait for dramatic effect?” Tony sassed, leaning back in his seat and pulling out his phone. He began doing some calculations on an upgrade for his suit.

”I don’t think there’s another Avenger’s level threat, or we probably would have heard about it,” Steve said, breaking the silence.

”Plus, Point Break isn’t here,” Tony was still typing away on his phone.

”Well, Thor is off-world, if he was called in, it would take a little while for him to actually get here,” Clint added. “After whatever this is, who wants to play street fighter?”

”Sure,” said Natasha before poking Clint in the shoulder, “But you’re gonna buy a replacement for the controller that you break, when you lose.”

”Hey! I am not going to break a controller,” Clint paused, “-or lose.”

”Mmhm”

”I’m good at Street Fighter,”

”Not better than me, just like real combat”

”Oh, you wanna bet?”

”Of course, I love winning bets against you,”

”You are ON! If I win, you have to record a video of yourself admitting that I am a better fighter than you- and spy!” Clint huffed and jabbed Natasha back in the shoulder.

”Sure”

”Aren’t you gonna say what I have to do if you win?”

”I’ll tell you when I win.”

“I hate you.”

”Why, because you know I’ll win?”

”No, cause I already told you my side of the bet. Totally unfair.”

”Guys-“ Steve tried to interrupt.

“Not unfair, I’m just better at keeping people on edge.” Natasha paused, “you know, like a spy.”

”Um guys?” Steve tried again, while Tony was laughing his ass off watching the two ‘expert spies’ fail to realize Fury had joined the call.

”Hey! I am a great spy, Nat-“ Clint shot back.

”Just fantastic” Fury said through the TV, as the two spies jumped. Well Clint jumped, Natasha just turned her head and blinked quickly.

”Fury.” Natasha said.

”Glad you guys could join us,” Fury replied, annoyance written all over his face.

”Fury, what is going on? Why did you need to talk to all of us?” Steve asked.

”There is an individual causing trouble in Queens”

”What?” Tony put down his phone, “How much trouble?”
”Yeah, it must be a lot if you’re calling us,” Clint said.

“According to my sources, he is enhanced and a possible danger to civilians. Calls himself, ‘Spider-Man’” Fury said

”I can start looking into it-get F.R.I.D.A.Y. to start pulling what she can.” Tony added, putting his phone down.

”I’ll send you what we have, but it’s not much, yet.” Fury added, “I need you guys to find out whatever you can on him. I also need you to bring him in, we need to know his identity as well as the extent to his possible enhancements.”

”On it,” Natasha replied.

”I’ll leave you to it.” Fury said before ending the call abruptly.

They just sat there for a moment in silence.

”Do you think he’s really a spider creature?” Clint said, “Cause I hate spiders.”

“Natasha, Clint, can you guys start tailing him? Maybe try to find out what you can in person, while the rest of us look into it from here?”

”Sounds good, Steve.” Clint said, “He better not be an actual spider or I’m gonna lose it.” Natasha nodded and they both started walking out of the room.

“I’ll let you guys know what I find,” Tony then got up and went back to the lab.

-

Peter was in the middle of patrol when he felt his spider-sense buzz. It wasn’t strong enough for him to be in immediate danger, but something wasn’t right. After stopping a robbery, a mugging, and helping a drunk woman get home, he still felt the buzzing. He was being followed- maybe. In an attempt to test his theory, he casually swung a more complicated path to search for more crime. He landed himself on a rooftop when he decided his theory was true. He was definitely being followed. He just wanted to go home, he had homework and wanted to try to get a decent night of sleep for once.

“Hey, I know you’re there,” Peter shouted from the rooftop, waiting for someone to reveal themselves to him.

He suddenly heard the slight movement of two people jumping onto the roof with him.

“How the fuck did you-” Clint said, as Peter turned to see THE Hawkeye and Black Widow.

“HOLY SHIT-” He cleared his throat and spoke in a deeper voice, “I mean- Hello Mr. Hawkeye and Ms. Black Widow. How may- how may I- uh- help you on this fine evening- well, night.”

“You’ve been busy lately. We have questions,” Black Widow stepped forward.

“Like what questions?”

“How the hell did you know where we were?” Hawkeye added before matching Natasha’s step.

“W- what do ya mean?” Peter stuttered as he tried to keep his voice natural.

Natasha took another step toward Spider-Man, “we are two of the world's best spies, how did you hear us?”

“Magic,” Peter laughed.

“Seriously, Spider-Man”

“I plead the fifth”

“Oh my god-” Clint scoffed and took another step forward to stand next to Nat.

“We would like to bring you with us, we need to know more about you,” Natasha kept her voice blank from any annoyance she might have been feeling.

Shit Shit SHIT- They wanted to bring him to the tower? Shit- They wanted to know his identity, they couldn’t know. If they found out he was 14, then they would try to stop him from being Spider-Man.

“Ohhh- would you look at the time,” He said as he checked his watch-less wrist, “I- uh- I gotta head home. You know, to the wife- and kids.”

Peter turned and sprinted off the edge of the roof without further warning and started swinging in a more complicated path than before. After what felt like an hour, he finally found himself alone, so he headed back to his apartment.

-

Peter spent the next two days bouncing between fear and excitement. Like on one hand, HOLY SHIT- The Avengers knew about him, how awesome is that? On the other hand, Holy shit the Avengers knew about him!! They couldn’t find out his identity, They would try and stop him from being Spider-Man. He couldn’t stop, who would save the little guys from crime? Daredevil stuck to Hell's Kitchen and there were a few others in other areas but there was no one in Queens. The Avengers might have saved the world, but they didn’t do anything to help the crime rate in New York. If they made him stop, then Queens wouldn’t have anybody to help them. He needed to help them. He couldn’t let anyone die if he could stop it.

He learned his lesson last year.

Uncle Ben died because Peter froze.

And Peter wouldn’t let that happen to anyone else. Not if he could help it.

”-ter? Peter.” The sound of May’s voice caused him to jump.

”Sorry, I zoned out there for a second.”

“What’s the matter? I thought you loved larb. Too larby? Not Larby enough!” May said with a smile, “How many times do I have to say ‘larb’ before you talk to me?” Peter looked up to see worry in Aunt May’s eyes.

”Sorry May. I’m fine, just got a lot on my mind, that's all.”

”If there’s anything I can help you with, just let me know. You know I larb you,” May said with a comforting smile, making Peter laugh lightly.

”I larb you, too.”

-

Peter was getting really tired of the Avengers. Ever since Black Widow and Hawkeye followed him, trying to bring him with them two and a half weeks ago, the other Avengers had been doing the same in a rotation. Peter was starting to get angry. It’s cool that they are so interested in him, but couldn’t they be interested from a distance? There was no way Peter was going to let them find out who he was. His best plan had been to run away, and lose them any chance he could.

The problem with that, though? They had been getting angry too.

-

“Holy fucking shit- what is up with this fucking guy?” Clint barked as the Avengers gathered in the common room of the Avenger’s floor.

“Language,” Natasha said with a smirk

“I'm never letting that go, am I?” Steve asked.

“Not a chance. Seriously though, who is he? I can’t find shit on him,” Tony sat on the couch as Steve mumbled angrily.

“I’m not sure, but he is good. I don’t know how he keeps losing us. Especially Clint and I.” Natasha added.

“Don't know, Don’t care. He’s getting on my nerves. We need to hurry up and finish this.” Tony said as he leaned his head back.

“Fury’s getting impatient”

“Yes, Nat- aren’t we all.” Clint snapped as he sat on a chair near Tony.

“Let’s go out all together tomorrow. I’ll call Sam and Rhodes, too.” Steve said as he walked out of the room.

Chapter Text

Peter walked into class that morning, hoping it would be one of Flash’s days off.

His Parker-Luck had a different plan.

As he sat in his seat, his Spider-Sense spiked. Instead of dodging, he just let the ball of paper hit the back of his head. A few seconds went by before he felt another ball of paper flying at him. Over the next several minutes, the time between throws shortened before Flash finally spoke up.

“Yo,” Peter rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore him, “Hey, Penis!”

He let out a heavy sigh before another piece of paper flew at his head, “You ignorin’ me, Parker? You’re pathetic.”

“Shut up,” Peter muttered under his breath. ‘Where is the teacher?’

“What? Think you’re too cool to respond, Parker? Or are you just trying not to cry?”

His shoulders tensed as he tried not to think about the avengers being after him. He could not handle Flash that day.

“Penis, I’m talking to you,” Flash said before standing up and shoving Peter's shoulder.

“Not today, Flash.”

“Aw, poor Peter Parker is sad. What’re you thinking about? Worried your Aunt’s gonna leave you too?” The entire room fell to silence as Peter clenched his hands into fists, knuckles turning white. “I wouldn’t be surprised, ya’ know. It’s bound to happen sooner or later. I mean- after your track record.”

Just as Peter stood up to punch Flash in the face the teacher walked in, of course.

“What the hell is going on here?” The Teacher asked.

“Parker was about to hit me, that's what,” Flash said after glancing at Peter.

“Peter, Do you have anything to add?”

Peter was too focused on containing his anger. He almost lost control just because he’s had a bad day.

Or- days. Plural.

“No.”

“Alright then, Peter. Detention, after school.”

He sat back down and started picking up the balls of paper. As Flash walked back to his seat, he whispered just loud enough to tell Peter, “Watch your back, Penis.”

-

During lunch, he sat down at his normal table. Ned walked over and sat with his tray of food, “Hey dude.”

“Hey.”

Ned looked at Peter for a moment before asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just tired.”

“Wanna try that again?” Ned said with a slight smirk.

Peter sighed before looking back at Ned, “Just been a long week.”

“If you wanna talk about it, you know I’m right here.”

“Thanks, man,”

“No problem.” Ned paused, “You still want to meet up after school today to build that new Lego set?”

“Oh shit man, I can’t. I have detention.”

Ned blinked, “Detention? What the hell happened to Peter? Who are you?”

“It was Flash.”

“Well Flash is a spoiled jerk with the copied personality of Draco Malfoy.”

Peter chuckled, “Does that make you Ron?”

“Well, book Ron at LEAST” They laughed and slowly Peter’s anger slipped to the back of his mind as they started to compare Flash to movie villains.

-

After detention (Which took FOREVER), Peter left Midtown to start his Patrol around queens. He knew he’d find at least one of the avengers, but it wouldn’t be for a while. Since they seemed afraid of stalking him until at least sunset, and with May working a later shift, he would have all evening to patrol the streets to get his mind off of the stupidity his life had been lately.

After a few hours, Peter was sitting on the edge of a roof eating a churro that he was gifted. He loved being up this high, not having to be bothered while he enjoyed the outdoors of Queens. Tonight wasn’t an incredibly difficult patrol. He helped a woman catch her dog that had just ran out of reach, gave a tourist directions, and stopped some thief trying to steal a bike. He just hoped that the webs he put on it would hold enough for the owner to get back to it.

He had been sitting on the roof for a while now, taking in the city atmosphere. He knew he had to start heading home soon, since the sun was already set and he had homework. He decided to start heading out, so he got up from his spot and began his journey home.

After swinging a few buildings away he felt his spider-sense alert him of an Avenger watching him from a distance. After a while of dodging a variety of them, he has come to understand that this was the type of buzzing in his neck that alerted him of them. Great. Of course they’d choose tonight. He couldn’t just have ONE mellow day without something going wrong. He started doing what he always did when they were stalking him… Run (or well, swing) away as fast as possible.

Peter had been trying to lose them for about twenty minutes when he heard a scream, a few streets away. He altered course immediately to help this person. Maybe he can show them that he’s not a danger if they see him save someone.

Again.

He landed on the roof above the alley he heard the scream from. When Peter looked down he saw a person pushing someone down the alley with a gun in their hand. The gun-wielder pushed the other person against the wall and asked them to empty their pockets. Shit- I need to get down there, Peter thought before leaping down behind them, landing with a soft thud.

“Hey, Man!” Spider-Man said, gaining the attention of both people.

The gun-wielder turned around startled, accidentally firing a bullet at Peter. Peter dodged it easily.

“Woah, dude! Careful with that,” Peter sassed as he webbed the gun out of the man’s hand and stuck it to the wall. The man grabbed a knife from his waist, quickly slicing it through the air (which Peter was obviously able to dodge as well).

“Rude!” Peter grabbed the man's arm and shoved him away from the person against the wall. He followed that with a series of webs to pin the man to the opposite wall. As Peter looked back toward the other person to ask if they were okay just to make direct eye contact with a teen not much older than himself.

The boy looked at Peter, completely frozen in fear, unable to process what had just happened.

“I’m Spider-Man, what's your name?”

“H-Henry”

“Nice to meet you Henry. Are you okay?”

“Uh- Yeah. Yeah I’m good.”

“Okay then. I can call the cops, are you good to head home? You can also wait for the cops, or I can walk you somewhere closer to your place, to make sure you're safe. This guy isn’t going anywhere.”

“I can make it back home, It’s not far. Th-thanks, Spider-Man.”

“No problem, Henry,” Peter said. With that, Henry took off back down the alley and disappeared from Peter’s sight.

In the process of all of that, Peter forgot that his stalkers were nearby. So he called the cops and swung to the top of the roof in front of him, to take a breather before he noticed the buzzing still at the base of his neck. Oh right- I’m still being followed. He thought, trying to focus his senses on identifying the location of the stalkers.

He could hear two heartbeats when he really focused. One of them belonged to the idiot that was currently webbed to the wall below him, so the other must be an Avenger. Black Widow, he assumed based on the complete lack of sound beyond the steady heartbeat.

“Ms. Black Widow ma’am, Welcome back.” Peter guessed, kneeling by the edge of the building.

“How’d you know it was me?” She spoke calmly, leaping from the next building.

“Good Question!”

“You know why I am here.”

“Yup!” Peter popped the ‘p’, “Still not going with you, though.”

“I just want to talk. Before you head out.”

“okaay-”

“We just want to make sure you aren’t dangerous.”

“I’m not. Didn’t you see me heroically save that kid?”

“You’re enhanced, we need to learn more about you and your abilities.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, not gonna happen-” Before he could finish his thought, he sensed something flying right toward his neck. Without looking away from Black Widow, he caught a dart a few inches before it pierced his skin. Peter’s heart raced immediately, but he kept himself appearing as calm as possible. “-But I will say that you guys are really getting on my nerves.”

Holy fucking shit- They tried to shoot him with some sort of dart. Black Widow was just a fucking distraction? Jesus- okay think THINK. He just had to think. But of course before he could, he could hear the sound of Repulsers getting closer as Black Widow lunged toward him. He could hear the faint sound of voices coming through her com. There was someone, probably Hawkeye, complaining about his perfect aim.

“-not now, Barton. We’re almost there. Tony-”

“Yeah, I'm almost there too, Capsicle.”

Peter could barely think as he kept dodging Black Widow’s attacks. Why were the Avengers here- like all of them?

Before he knew it, he was on the same roof as almost all of the avengers. He let out a small shriek as Iron Man swung his gauntlet at Peter. He jumped out of the way, leaping to the next building to find CAPTAIN AMERICA landing in front of him with Hawkeye, they both tried to hit him as he fearfully dodged more attacks.

“Overreact much?” he shouted as he kept dodging attacks from Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow- and Holy shit why the hell were they ALL here? He figured he’d be getting on their nerves but seriously where are they getting their information from that says he’s an avengers level threat? He continued moving from roof to roof, dodging their attacks, as he tried to slow them down with his webs. He knew he couldn’t beat them all in a fight, or even one of them most likely but he could get away (possibly). He just needed an opening.

“You guys watch WAY too much daily bugle. I thought you guys were stalking me, don’t you know I’ve done nothing wrong?” Spider-Man stuttered, catching another one of Hawkeye’s darts, “Will you stop that?”

“Come with us, we can stop fighting. We just need to know who you are” Captain America briefly stopped.

“Still no, but you make a very convincing argument.” Peter tossed the dart across the roof and aimed a web at Iron Man.

“Jesus- Lets get this over with.” Iron Man muttered and aimed his gauntlet at Peter’s web.

His neck gave a painful warning as Captain America swung at Peter. He moved out of the way, thinking the warning was just for that, just in time to be hit with Iron Man’s Repulsor beam. Suddenly his shoulder, arm, and part of his chest spiked with a burning sensation as Peter staggered backwards towards the edge of the roof.

Not a second later, a dart pierced into his neck at the same time as The Falcon and War Machine landed on the roof. Instantly Peter felt his body become ten times heavier, but he couldn’t let them win. They couldn’t find out his identity. With a rush of adrenaline, he managed to leap off of the roof to begin swinging across the city as fast as he could with Iron Man, Falcon, and War Machine on his tail. He ignored the pain as his vision started blurring.

He barely managed to dodge another repulsor blast before crash landing on a roof. Spider-Man scrambled to his feet as the three metal Avengers landed in front of him.

“I’m getting sick of your games, SpiderGuy.” Iron Man said as he charged forward, readying a punch.

War Machine and Falcon charged at the same time, leaving Spider-Man very little time and room to react- especially with whatever sedative they must have shot into his system. Luckily he had fast metabolism so he could already feel it wearing off. He dodged punch after punch, trying to focus on finding an opening to escape. He honestly couldn’t believe how long he’d been lasting.

“Fucking hell-” Iron Man said, charging his repulsor to fire again. War Machine reached for Spider-Man’s wrist right when he was focused on Iron Man, so he didn't dodge in time for War Machine to grab onto his wrist with full force.

Peter really started to panic. They were actually trying to kill him now, he needed to get the hel- heck out of there. His side was hit with the repulser beam and Peter yelped, deciding that he couldn’t wait any longer. He grabbed onto War Machine's hand and yanked it off of his wrist, denting the metal suit and hopefully not Colonel Rhodes’ hand too. He jumped off of the roof in a full animalistic panic and found his way home using back alleys and jumping from wall to wall instead of swinging.

He barely managed to get to his apartment building before sliding into his room and collapsing on the floor.

-

Clint stayed frozen on the roof as he watched Spider-Man swing away with Tony, Sam, and Rhodey flying behind. How had he even managed to be upright after that dart? As Spider-Man disappeared from his view, he couldn’t stop staring at where the vigilante had just been.

“Clint?” Nat said softly.

“He must have some crazy metabolism if he could still swing away after that dart.”

“Yeah. There was something else I noticed,” She said, gaining the attention of Steve.

“Oh?”

“He just seemed so y-” she was interrupted by the sound of Iron Man, Falcon, and War Machine landing back on the roof.

“Jesus, the guy did a number on Platypus’ suit. We can officially confirm the enhanced strength theory,” Tony said, as Rhodey lifted his damaged hand.

“Shit- and he got away?” Clint asked.

“Yeah he’s fucking slippery. Tony here, got him pretty good though.” Sam chimed in.

“‘Got him pretty good’? What does that mean?” Nat turned to face Tony.
“The dart didn’t do shit, so I improvised.”

“We were supposed to bring him in, not try and KILL him.”

“Calm down, Mama Spider. He’ll live. He’s like a cockroach.” Tony paused,” Well, a cockroach with super strength and a metabolism that could potentially battle our own Captain Crunch, over here.”

“Tony, she has a point,” Steve added, “Next time, let's just bring a stronger sedative. We need answers not a gravestone.”

“Whatever- Meet y’all back at the tower,” Tony said, before flying off.

Chapter Text

Peter woke up to the sound of his alarm, making him jolt up. That was his first mistake, because the moment he sat up, he felt shots of pain from his shoulder and side. Peter turned off his alarm and lifted his sleeve to check out the injury.

He noticed that his chest, shoulder, side and part of his arm looked a lot better than last night. The repulsor beam shot at a pretty close distance, so he looked not very far off from barbecue. Now, it was still bad but it was definitely not as threatening. He was however covered with bruises. He’s just glad he wasn’t hit in the face, cause he had to go to school and did not want to be questioned.

Shit he still had to go to school. He checked his phone to see a few messages Ned had sent the day before.

‘Hey man
We on for tomorrow?
the Lego set?
Peter?’

’Sorry man
totally passed out
i’ll see you at school’ Peter shot back a few texts and sprinted around his room, getting ready as quickly as possible.

-

It has been a few days since they ambushed Spider-Man. They all managed to convince Tony not to go after him again for now. Tony needed to calm down before they tried to bring him in again. Natasha had been searching for Spider-Man’s identity from the tower, but she couldn’t find any hints of what job or college he might go to regularly. It was a little frustrating how good he was at hiding his identity.

She was walking back to the Avengers Common area, to talk with the rest of them about their plan going forward. She had a talk with Clint the other day, theorizing on aspects of Spider-Man’s identity. She had figured he was between the ages of 21 and 24. She entered the kitchen to find Steve cooking.

“Hey, Nat. I’m making breakfast for anyone that wants to join. It’s almost ready. Gonna be Clint, Sam, Rhodey and I. Tony, I think, is locked up in his lab- probably trying to figure out more on Spider-Man’s enhancements. Like he has been since last night,” Steve said. Natasha hummed in agreement before replying.

“Need any help?”

“No I’m alright, thank you,” Steve replied before turning back to the stove.

Natasha sat down at the table just as Clint, Rhodey, and Sam walked in.

“-and I still can’t believe he dented your suit.” Sam said with a small laugh.

“Right? It didn’t even look like he was using all of his strength. I’m just glad he didn’t break my hand.”

“AND the fucker kept catching my darts like it was nothing!” Clint whined. They walked over to the kitchen where Natasha and Steve were, as Clint looked over to Natasha, “Did you find anything?”

“No, his identity is still hidden. Though I do think we should open back up the discussion of his-.”

“Are you still on about the guy's age? He’s childish but I don't think he's actually that young- he’s gotta be at LEAST thirty-five.”

“Thirty-five?? I don’t know, I think I'll bet on him being closer to his mid to late twenties. There’s no way some thirty-five year old is talking that much like a teenager AND wearing a leotard. He has to be younger than that,” Sam argued.

“Sam there’s-” Clint started before Steve cut in.

“Guys, focus. The kid’s just out there trying to make a difference. And what did we do? Chase him and beat the shit out of him. If we want him to trust us, we can’t traumatize him first.” Natasha jumped in.

“We don’t need him to trust us. The guy is hiding something! He has to be.” Clint replied.

“Yeah, why would he need to hide it from us if he was trustworthy? We’re the Avengers.” Sam said

“The avengers, the same people that chased and attacked him out of nowhere the other day. All because he caught a dart.” Natasha walked to the other side of the kitchen.

“It wouldn’t have gotten to that point if he didn’t run from us.”

“No, you are just projecting your frustration about him catching the darts you shot with your ‘perfect’ aim. Get over it and think through what we have been doing to the kid.”

“He is not a kid-”

“Uh- food is ready.” Steve interrupted awkwardly.

“Do you have anything to add to the conversation, Steve?” Natasha said.

”Well. I think-“

“He agrees with us, Nat. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then let him say that, Clint.” They looked back over to Steve.

“I- I don’t agree with our tactics so far- especially injuring him as badly as we did… Can we talk more about this after breakfast?” Steve said while moving the food to the table.

—

Peter got to his locker just in time to put away his things and get to class, not running late for once.

As he sat down, he could hear Ned talking to him about making the Lego set they were supposed to make the day before. Peter took off his backpack, causing his burn to hurt, which he tried his best to hide. He had gotten pretty good at hiding Spider-Man related injuries. It helped that he healed fast so he didn’t have to hide his pain for that long (That sounded a lot sadder than he meant). Peter hummed a response to Ned before turning his attention briefly to the teacher that was beginning to talk.

After a few minutes, Peter found himself zoning out. English wasn’t his best subject but he learned quickly so he could catch up on anything important he missed.

He wondered why the avengers had been focusing on him so much. It didn’t make any sense. They had to have other things to worry about then some dude in spandex helping old women out of trees and cats cross the street.

”-kay?” Ned said, pulling Peter from his thoughts.

”Huh?”

”You okay? You were in your own world there. She asked us to partner up and start talking about the reading assignment.”

”Oh yeah I’m fine, let's talk about…” What was the reading? Shit-

“Of Mice and Men? Peter, Did you forget to do the reading?” Ned Laughed. Ned spent the whole time describing the plot in great detail as Peter tried to focus on his best friend rather than the pain shooting throughout his body.

The rest of his classes leading up to lunch went alright, he spent most of it plotting his next disappearing act for the avengers. Huh- disappearing act- maybe he could stop by a magic shop and get like one of those magician smoke things for vanishing. Or he could buy a rabbit! He didn’t know the practical effects of the rabbit but magicians usually had rabbits. Maybe the Avengers would like a rabbit. If he had a rabbit though, he’d probably need a top hat. That’s what magicians always had, to make the rabbit disappear. OR he could just buy- like a really big top hat that could make him disappear from the fight. Well he was extra bendy because of his powers, maybe he could fit in a regular sized magician’s top hat. It would be like that one Disney short. The one where that rabbit just wanted the magician's carrot but the magician wouldn't give it to him, so the rabbit ended up continuously messing with the magician until he got the carrot. The magician fit into the top hat in the short. Then again that was animated but Peter’s powers kind of defy the laws of science so maybe he could fit, too. He wondered if the avengers had any pets. He could see Black Widow having a rabbit, she’s scary but she probably likes rabbits, who doesn’t? Tony Stark probably. That jerk.

”Why is Tony Stark a jerk?” Ned asks, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize I said that out loud.’ He then wondered how much of that he had said aloud.

”Oh I- I don’t- uh know, he’s rich. He probably doesn’t want a rabbit, he’d want something more exotic.”

”Like a ferret.”

”I was thinking more like a tiger or a bear, but yeah- ferret works,” Peter laughed.

-

Luckily the next few days went without another Avengers ambush, but that didn’t help Peter’s anxiety in the slightest. Now he was left in this sort of limbo, waiting for them to show up and try to kidnap him again. Which, RUDE.

He pulled an all-nighter, catching up on homework after patrolling for a while on his first night of freedom, then the second night he patrolled a little after school, and headed home early to get a nice relaxing night in.

He landed outside his window, carefully opened it and climbed in, crawling across the wall and ceiling. He could hear Aunt May in the other room, so he shot out a web carefully, to shut the door. Once the door was shut he pulled off his mask and jumped to the floor softly.

He tossed his mask toward his bed and froze when he saw the mask smack Ned in the face. Ned was staring at Peter with his mouth hanging open as he dropped the Lego Death Star he was building, right onto the floor.

”Shit uh-“ Peter panicked.

”YOU OKAY IN THERE?” May shouted from the other room.

”YEAH! JUST DROPPED SOMETHING!” He turned to his best friend, “Um-“

”You’re-”

“Ned-“

“You’re Spider-Man,” Ned said, finally closing his mouth.

“No I-I- I’m not”

”Dude, you were just crawling on the ceiling in Spider-Man’s suit.” Ned said, making Peter pause.

“-Okay yeah I'm Spider-Man” Peter sighed.

“OH MY GOD-”

“Ned, shh! May doesn’t know, and I don’t want her to know.”

“Does anyone know you’re Spider-Man?”

“Well- you do.”

“Oh my god, I- I’m the first person?! I’m best friends with Spider-Man!”

“Shh-Ned, you can’t tell anyone.”

“What?”

“No one else can find out that I am Spider-Man.”

“No one? I don’t know man, this is a big secret. A really cool one. I don’t think I can hide it.”

“Ned!”

“Fine, fine! I’ll stay quiet.” Ned paused, “Dude, do the webs come out of you?”

“EW dude, no. I make the web fluid in chemistry whenever I need to and I use my web shooters to shoot them out, see?” Peter tossed Ned the web shooters. Ned looked at them in awe.

“Cool,” Ned said as he put on a web shooter and shot a web at the wall, “Cool. Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“I can help you!”

“What?” Peter asked, “You can help me with my web shooters?”

“Huh? Oh- no these are good. I mean, I can help you be Spider-Man!”

“What are you talking about?” Peter chuckled.

“Well- I can be your Guy-In-The-Chair!”

“My ‘Guy-In-The-Chair’?”

“Duh! I’m great with computers, and every superhero needs their guy in the chair to help behind the scenes.” Ned said, smiling wide, “Like The Flash or Arrow! I can be your Cisco or Felicity! I can help lead you around where you need to, and I can hack into places you need to learn more about.”

“Ned, I think you are really onto something here.”

-

“Do you have any extra limbs?” Ned asked as they walked to school the next day.

“No, I don’t.” Peter replied with a sigh. Ned had been asking non-stop questions about his powers ever since the previous night.

“Do you like being on the ceiling?”

“No, I- well actually kinda.”

“Do you hibernate? Some spiders hibernate.”

“I don’t think so, but I can’t thermoregulate. So, I don’t know, maybe.”

“Can you talk to spiders?”

“What?” Peter asked with a laugh.

“You got bit by a weird spider, can you talk to them, or control them?”

“I have no idea, Ned. I haven’t tried.”

“WHAT? That’s like the first thing I would’ve tried!”
“I’ll tell you what, next time I see a spider, I’ll try to talk to it.” They both laughed as they entered the school and walked to their locker.

-

Natasha was starting to think that all of this had gotten too far. She wanted to know the kid’s identity as much as the rest of them, and he's been frustratingly slippery for a guy going up against a team of super soldiers, super-spies, and a few mechanical superheroes. However; hitting him with Iron Man’s repulsor beams, using super strength to throw a vibranium shield directly at him, and sending three super suited avengers after him while he was not even trying to hurt any of them, definitely seemed like the opposite of their usual intention.

Natasha had been watching him for around two months now and she had to admit, she was quickly growing against the team's plan. She was still going to join them on their next Spider-chase because she still thought it was important to learn more about him, but she was going to focus on keeping said team from killing the kid.

She never thought she’d have to stop them from hurting a young vigilante that seemed to be just trying his best.

There was something about the kid. She figured he was young because of his build, humor, and his insistence of forcing his voice to sound deeper.

That part she noticed last visit. She finally realized that when he was focusing all of his energy on dodging and fighting, his voice was higher. Natasha was annoyed that it took her so long to realize. Once she started thinking back on all of their interactions, it was very obvious he was putting on a fake voice from the start. Their first interaction was proof.

(Chapter 1 Flash back: Nat’s POV)

“Hey, I know you’re there,” Spider-Man shouted from the rooftop, facing away from Natasha and Clint.

She paused for a brief moment, before shooting Clint a look and jumping from the fire escape she had positioned herself in.

“How the fuck did you-” Clint said, jumping next to Natasha and getting loudly interrupted.

“HOLY SHIT-” He cleared his throat and switching to a deeper voice, “I mean- Hello Mr. Hawkeye and Ms. Black Widow. How may- how may I- uh- help you on this fine evening- well, night.”

“You’ve been busy lately. We have questions,” Natasha stepped forward.

“Like what questions?”

“How the hell did you know where we were?” Clint added before matching Natasha’s step.

“W- what do ya mean?” the vigilante stuttered.

Natasha took another step toward Spider-Man, “we are two of the world's best spies, how did you hear us?”

“Magic,” Peter laughed.

“Seriously, Spider-Man”

“I plead the fifth”

“Oh my god-” Clint scoffed and took another step forward to stand next to Nat.

“We would like to bring you with us, we need to know more about you,” Natasha kept her voice blank from the annoyance she was feeling.

Natasha noticed as Spider-Man’s breathing quickened and his head started facing the ground. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried to analyse the man’s movement to get more of a sense of what he was thinking. He was definitely on the verge of a panic attack. He was hiding something big.

“Ohhh- would you look at the time,” He said as he checked his watch-less wrist, “I- uh- I gotta head home. You know, to the wife- and kids.”

Clint and Natasha tried following him as he leapt off the building and swung away, but he was fast, and they knew they weren’t going to gain anything else from him that night. They decided to back off and try again next time he was out.

(End of Flashback)

Thinking back confirmed her theory about his age with every moment of their interaction. She unfortunately was starting to think he was between the ages of 18 and 20.

Chapter Text

Tony had spent the last day and a half working on something to take care of their little insect problem. They needed a way to bring him in and Tony figured out just how to do that.

The Spiderling had shown signs of enhanced senses- at least heightened hearing. If that was true (He’s Tony Stark- so of course it’s true), then his new sonic device was going to stop Spider-Man long enough for them to be able to bring him in without any more issues-

“Boss” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, interrupting Tony’s train of thought.

“What, Fri?”

“Ms. Boss wants me to tell you to go eat.”

“Tell her I’m busy.”

“She thought you would say that. She also said that if you don’t eat something, she is going to drag you out of the lab herself and lock you out until you properly take care of yourself,” Tony sighed.

“Fine, tell her I’ll eat. But, I am not sleeping until I’m done.”

Tony looked back down at his anti-menace device and noticed a piece he forgot to add. He turned back to his desk and started fixing the device.

He needed to make sure it was ready for use. It needed to be calibrated for super-hearing and not regular hearing.

After a while, the piece was attached, so he decided to turn it on. This lab was soundproofed so it shouldn’t bother Captain Caveman a few floors down. He reached for the switch and-

“Tony what did I say?” Pepper said, as she stormed out of the elevator.

“That you love when I get all focused?” Tony replied with his fake grin.

“I wasn’t lying when I said I’d lock you out of the lab.

“It’s my lab, Pepper. You can’t lock me out.”

“It’s mine when you forget to eat or sleep for 2 days.” Pepper said as she took the device out of his hand and put it on the counter. “Play with your things later. We are going to eat.”

“You’re kidnapping me. Fri, Call security, Pepper is Tony-napping me. I can’t believe it,” Tony whined.

“I am choosing to ignore you boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.

“GASP! E TU, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Come on,” Pepper said, with a sigh.

“I’ll eat, but can I at least have my lab back later?”

“After you nap, you can have twelve percent of the lab back.” Pepper smirked.

“Oh you are evil. You are never letting that go, are you?”

“Not in the slightest.” She said, dragging a Tony to the elevator.

-

Natasha walked into the common room to find Steve reading in one of the seats. He looked up and smiled at her, so she took the opportunity to approach him.

“Steve,”

“Yes?”

“I need to talk to you about Spider-Man.” She said, causing Steve to put down his book.

“I don’t like it either,” He stated.

“Then we need to partner up and make sure they don’t go too far. I could do it myself, but it would be easier with your help.”

“Yeah, I’ll stop fighting him. I shouldn’t have in the first place.”

“Why did you?”

“Same as you. I didn’t notice he wasn’t being threatening.”

Natasha looked at him, patiently waiting for him to continue.

“As you’ve noticed, I haven’t been focusing on our missions at all.” Steve paused, looking away, “It’s just Bucky. He’s out there somewhere, and after Sokovia- I just haven’t stopped thinking about where he could be. Sam and I have been struggling to find any leads.”

“You’ll find him.”

“I need to” Steve took a deep breath and looked back up to Natasha, “But you can count on me tomorrow to help stop the team from going too far. He doesn’t deserve what we’ve done to him.”

Natasha hasn’t forgotten about Barnes. She wished she helped Steve out more but Natasha had troubles of her own after they took down the Hydra infestation in S.H.I.E.L.D..

“Thank you, Steve.” Natasha said, resting a hand on his shoulder for a moment continuing, “and I can start doing some digging too, help you out with Barnes.”

Steve smiled as she got up and started walking out of the room, “Goodnight Nat.”

“Goodnight”

-

(The next day: Peter’s POV)

Peter was finally healed up from his last meeting with the Avengers, which meant that he should prepare for them to show up again that night. Why wouldn’t they, their timing was absolutely terrible and Peter had his Parker luck against him as well.

He was sitting on the roof of a small building, eating a Delmar’s sandwich, passing time until he either heard a crime, or found the Avengers.

Unfortunately for him it was the avengers. This time, Iron Man was gunning straight for him, with his fist clenched. It looked like he was holding something but it was too far away to tell. Peter knew that if Iron Man was there, then the others would be soon to follow. This time, he just stood up and got into a fighting stance, after wrapping his sandwich back up and setting it down.

Iron Man landed with a thud, and Peter could hear the sound of the others approaching as well.

“Can’t a Spider just enjoy a sandwich for once, without being bothered. You know, I saved a cat that was stuck in a tree today. Does that sound very dangerous to you?” Peter tried.

“You keep running from us. Why?”

“Um- I don’t know- maybe because you guys are attacking and trying to kidnap me?” Peter rolled his eyes under the mask, “And what are you holding?”

“Let’s just get this over with. We need answers and you refuse to come with us willingly.” Iron Man lifted his hand and flipped the switch on the device before Peter had time to react.

Immediately, a screeching sound pierced his ears and he fell to his knees. The sound became louder until Peter was in so much pain that his vision started to blur. He fell to his side and pressed his hands to his ears as black began to fill his vision. He could feel his ears start to bleed. The noise kept growing and growing, becoming more painful by the second.

He could hardly think.

In a state of panic, Peter began moving away from the sound, trying to get as far away from it as he could. He couldn’t hear anything besides the painful screeching. He felt himself scream as he crawled away, before he was suddenly falling.

He crashed onto something metal with a painful thud, curling into a ball and pressing his hands into his ears with force.

-

The Team was almost to the roof Tony spotted Spider-Man on, when they started hearing a bloodcurdling scream. It caused them to flinch as they tried to focus on where it was coming from. As they got closer, they realized it was coming from the roof they were headed to.

When they got closer Steve stopped and brought his hands to his ears.

“What is that?” He asked as the team looked at him with worried expressions.

“The screaming? We don’t know yet. Are you good?” Clint asked.

“No, the screeching is starting to hurt, the closer we get to it.”

“I don't hear screeching. Is it because of your heightened hearing?” Sam added.

“Steve, you stay here with Clint. The rest of us will head over.” Natasha said, as she ran toward the roof.

They landed on the roof just in time to see Spider-Man fall off the edge of the roof, screaming in pain. As they ran over to the edge to help him, Natasha noticed something in Tony’s hand.

“Tony, what the fuck is that?” She shouted, Sam and Rhodey turned to them.

Tony stood frozen, staring at the edge of the roof.

“Tony, what did you do?” Natasha growled as she snatched the device from his hand and threw it over to Rhodey who immediately crushed it with his suit.

“I-I didn’t- I didn’t know it was going to be that strong- He- Oh my god,” He cried out as he fell to his knees, “What did I do?”

Rhodey rushed to Tony’s side, “We are going to fix it. He fell onto the fire escape. Let's bring him back to the med-bay. Right now.”

By the time they got back to the edge, Spider-Man was gone.

-

Peter stumbled towards his apartment, His head was pounding, his hearing was muffled under a pound ringing, and he was struggling to stay conscious. He managed to make it to the alley his backpack was webbed to just in time to grab his bag and collapse on the ground.

-

Peter woke up abruptly to find his hearing almost completely gone. With his heartbeat quickly rising, he tried to stand up. His attempt was unsuccessful as he stumbled back to the ground. After a few more tries, he managed to steady himself on the wall of the alley before trying to move towards his house.

With Peter’s head filled with cotton, he wasn’t able to detect anyone near him until a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

Peter shot around to face the person.

Dressed entirely in black, a man stood before him with two billy clubs resting in one hand. Black fabric was covering the entire top half of his face. Peter’s heart skipped a beat as he violently moved away in a frantic motion.

This guy looked like the reports on the ‘Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’ that Peter heard about, but why would he be in queens. A wave of pain shot through his head as the man-in-black began to speak. With it sounding like it was ten feet underwater, he couldn’t make out a word.

Before he could say anything, he collapsed on the ground, vision quickly fading as he lost consciousness yet again.

-

Peter shot up from his bed, finally able to think beyond the pain in his skull. He still couldn’t hear much, which he would make sure to panic about later but his first problem was to figure out how he got back to his apartment. ‘Shit’ Peter thought, remembering the devil that found him in the alley. He sighed and looked up and his breath shook as he looked around his room. He found himself face to face with walls covered in Avengers posters.

HIS avengers posters.

The people he looked up to his whole childhood.

He burst into uncontrollable tears as he started grabbing and ripping apart each and every poster.

He just wanted to help the little guys and make right by Uncle Ben.

The Avengers just wanted his identity.

They didn’t care what they did to him to get it.

He grew up with Tony Stark as his hero.

But heroes don’t act like that.

Not one of them helped.

They weren’t even there.

He continued ripping each poster until his floor was covered in the pieces of his childhood heroes.

Chapter Text

Matt Murdock has been spending his nights as ‘The devil of Hell’s Kitchen' for a while now. His latest task has been to find and take down a man that worked for the Russians in Hell’s Kitchen. He finally found information that led him all the way over to Queens, of all places.

Matt was running around Queens trying to narrow in his hearing down to find the russian when he heard a piercing, metallic shriek followed by a bloodcurdling scream that cut through his senses. His chase could wait- someone needed his help.

As he ran through Queens (trying to ignore the growing pain from the shrieking) to get to the source of the sounds, he was met with the Avengers running down the street. He planted himself on a roof over them, listening as Captain America expressed his pain over the screeching sound he was also hearing.

It seemed to only affect those with heightened senses, which was very concerning for Matt.

Matt felt as the group of heroes split up, leaving Captain America and Hawkeye behind. He listened to them for a moment, before deciding to follow the others to the root of the noise, keeping in the shadows.

When he got to the roof next to them, he noticed War Machine crush a small device in his hands, immediately stopping the terrible sound. Matt's ears were left with a slight ringing that he hoped would go away soon. He focused down onto the fire escape when he heard shuffling.

He heard someone young groaning in pain and frantically moving to the ladder of the fire escape as well as a heart beating quickly in fear. He could smell the blood dripping from the person's ears and could taste the salt of tears rushing down his face. He could feel the quickly fixed rips in the hand stitched spandex suit that the guy- Spider-Man, was wearing. Matt’s heart quickened in worry as Spider-Man stumbled off of the fire escape and through the streets of Queens.

Matt followed the vigilante, until he noticed Spider-Man stumble into an alley, reaching for a backpack that was webbed to a wall and passed out.

Matt is feeling panic as he leaps down into the alley. Spider-Man seemed so young like this. He had never paid much attention to the kid. He only ever heard anything from Foggy, who had been a huge fan since Spider-Man started getting noticed.

He cautiously approached the young vigilante, stopping a few feet away and keeping his billy clubs in his hands, in case anyone decided to join them in the alley. He could hear the kid’s heart beating which was relieving, but he really needed to get him some medical help. Knowing vigilantes, he probably wouldn’t want to go to a hospital. So either he could help the best he can, or maybe he could get Claire to help. His thoughts were interrupted when the kid frantically woke up.

Spider-Man’s heart sped up before he struggled to stand up. Matt started slowly approaching the kid quietly saying, “Hey, let me help you.”

After getting no response, his worry for the kid grew. He didn’t seem to even know Matt was there. Spider-man started to stumble down the alley when Matt got closer, moving his clubs into one hand and laying a hand on his shoulder- which caused him to jump around to face Matt.

“Kid?” He asked, worried when there was no sign of him hearing Matt, “I’m assuming you don't like hospitals, so I am going to take you somewhere safe-”

Matt stopped as Peter began to pass out again. He held out his arms, catching him as Spider-Man fell.

Matt briefly laid the young vigilante on the ground as he rushed to get the backpack webbed to the wall. Spider-man reached for it before passing out the first time, so it was likely his. Which reminded Matt to tell the kid that this was a terrible idea, at some point.

He put the backpack on his back and put his clubs in his pants before going back over to Spider-Man and placing the kids arm over his shoulder, carrying him to a nearby park.

Once he got there, he rested Spider-Man on a bench and pulled out his phone to call Claire. After a single ring, she picked up.

“What did you do?”

“It’s actually not me this time. I was wondering if you could by any chance meet me in Queens right now and help Spider-Man. He’s badly injured and I don’t have medical experience beyond stitching people up after fist fights.”

“You are gonna owe me. Big time.”

“I know. And thank you, Claire.”

“Yeah yeah.”

-

They were meeting up in a store that was closed for construction. Matt made sure there were no cameras before bringing the kid in there. Spider-Man had been in and out of consciousness the whole time. He kept mumbling things like, “may”, and ‘hurts’. It was heartbreaking.

Claire finally arrived, rushing in with a bag of medical supplies. When she saw the kid she stopped for a moment before blinking a few times and kneeling down to look over Spider-Man.

“His ears are bleeding,” Matt said, breaking the silence.

“I’ll- I’ll need to remove his mask to check him.”

“Do what you need to do, I’m listening for anyone in the vicinity.”

She carefully removed the mask and froze.

“Claire?”

“He-” She took in a shaky breath, “He’s a baby.”

“What?” Mat asked, worrying his theory was true.

“He can’t be older than 15… He’s a child,” Claire mumbled, knowing Matt would hear. He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. He could panic about this later. He kept thinking about Stick- The man that trained him to be a soldier instead of a child- and hoped that Spider-Man hadn’t gone through anything similar.

“His family must be getting worried,” he thought aloud. Claire started looking over the kid, cleaning up the drying blood.

“I think he has an advanced healing factor.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He has a few bruises on his face that are healing faster than normal.” She paused, “His eardrums are damaged, which would normally result in permanent hearing loss at this level, but with his enhancements, if I am correct, he should fully recover. He does seem to have a minor head injury. But that should also heal on its own. He might just need some pain killers later.”

Matt nodded, thoughts moving to his backpack, “We should see if we can find out where he lives, so I can take him home. I’ll just make sure he has a way to contact me again in the future. I don’t want him to be alone.

“He shouldn’t be doing this at all, Mike.”

“Yeah, but if he’s anything like me? He won't stop. I want to at least be there for him when he needs someone who gets it.”

“Alright, fine. Just keep an eye on him.“ She said, moving over to the kid’s bag, “Is this his?”

“Yeah. I was thinking it might have his phone or something that will help us find where he lives.”

“Good idea,” She opened the bag, finding binders, a book, a rolled up set of clothes, and his phone. She picked up his phone and turned it on.

“Is there anything in his bag that could hint at a password?” Matt said.

Claire set down the phone and looked through his bag. She found a shirt that said ‘The earth’s rotation really makes my day’, as well as some Star Wars stickers on one of his class binders.

“The kid likes science and Star Wars,” She said with a sad smile.

“How many digits is the password?”

“Um, four.”

“Okay. Maybe try 1978?”

“Okaay… It didn’t work. Why 1978?”

“It was the year the first Star Wars came out.”

“No, It came out in 1977.”

“Foggy is going to be so mad if he finds out I said that,” Matt said under his breath.

“I’m going to try it with the correct year,” Claire chuckled, typing in the numbers, “Okay it worked. I'm going to check to see if he has his address in here somewhere.”

After several minutes, Claire was able to find the address in a text conversation he had with someone.

“There’s a text from his ‘Aunt May’ that says she picked up a night shift, so you should be good to drop him off. Here's the address, get him there safely. Okay?”

“I will,” Matt said as he gathered the kid’s stuff and prepared to bring him home, “and thank you, Claire. I really do owe you one.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to patching up vigilantes now.”

He smiled, picking up Spider-Man and heading out to find the kid’s apartment.

-

He was able to drop the kid and his stuff off without complications, plugging his phone into the desk charger, and leaving a note that said, ‘You’re not alone in this’. He quickly added his phone number to the bottom of the note and left.

Chapter Text

Peter was woken up the next morning to May gently shaking his shoulders. His hearing was still almost completely gone, but he could see May saying something.

“Sorry, May. What?”

He stared at ler lips as he saw her release a heavy sigh before repeating herself, ‘Peter, you have to get up for school. Your alarm was going off like crazy.’

Shit. Peter couldn’t go to school- How would he be able to do anything when he was focused on looking like he could hear. He had to hope that his hearing would return, which meant he had to act normal.

“Oh- May? I was actually hoping I could stay home from school.” He said, then focusing on reading May’s lips when she replied.

‘You already have some absences piled up as well as the amount of times you have been late.’ She paused before continuing, ‘I know it’s been hard for us since Ben. And I love you so much. I want to support you but you also need to go to school, Pete. We can’t lose this scholarship. You deserve it more than anyone.’

Peter felt his eyes begin to water. He blinked away the tears, looking away from May for a moment and taking a deep breath. She was right- of course May was right. He needed that scholarship and his absences were piling up. Granted lately they have been Spider-Man related but he couldn’t disappoint May. He’s all she has left. He slowly looked back up at May and saw her comforting smile.

“You’re right, Aunt May. I’ll- I’ll try.”

‘That’s all I’m asking, kiddo. I’m proud of you, Peter,’ She said, as she stood up from the side of his bed. She then started walking toward the door to leave.

“Sounds good… Larb you.”

He noticed May’s shoulders lightly shaking in laughter as she turned back to him with a smile and said, ‘Larb you too, Pete- and can you clean up your room when you get a chance? There is paper all over your floor.’ before leaving the room and shutting his door.

The moment May shut the door, Peter let out a huge breath. It had only been a minute of conversation with May and he was exhausted. It took so much work to focus on what she was saying. He didn’t know how he was going to go to school.

He got out of bed, fixing his blanket a bit before quickly getting dressed. Panic flooded his brain as he remembered his backpack. SHIT- It must have been in that alley all night.

He turned to find himself facing his- backpack?

He walked over to his desk and noticed his backpack resting on top of it, next to his phone, that was on the charger as well as a folded piece of paper. He paused in confusion for a moment before hesitantly picking up and unfolding the paper. It said, ‘You’re not alone in this’ with a phone number written on the bottom.

‘Huh, the devil of Hell’s Kitchen gave me his phone number,’ he thought.

At least there was someone that wasn’t out to get Spider-Man.

Wait.

Shit- No.

If Peter was in his Spider-Man suit when the devil found him, then how did he know Peter’s address.

Oh Fu- crap shit.

The Devil of Hell’s kitchen knows Spider-Man’s identity.

And yet- It had been all night, and The Devil (Jeez, he really needed a new name) never hurt Peter. In fact- He had brought Peter back home, and even plugged in his phone.

Maybe The Devil really wanted to help.

Peter decided to put the phone number in his contacts under the name ‘Old Scratch’. He grabbed his bag and headed to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

-

On the subway Peter decided to text Ned

‘Hi Ned
Jst a heads upp…’

‘Hey, man
Wuts up’ Ned texted.

‘I currently cant hear like anythng’

‘Peter what do you mean?
???’

‘Its no big deal
The avengers attacked me with this weird device
Or well Tony Stark did’

‘HOLY SHIT
Are you oky?
okay*’ Ned texted.

‘Yeah
Its just that I have to go to school and I was wondering if you could help me understand what people are saying in class and stuff’

‘Of cours, P
I gotchu
Im not ur guy-in-the-chair for nothin’

‘Thx Ned
Ur the bst chair man’ Peter Texted.

‘bow*
At ur service Webby’

‘Webby?’ Peter Texted.

‘Yeah
It fits’ Ned texted.

Peter was glad to have Ned. His best friend since childhood started learning sign language last year with Peter shortly after Ben died. It was hard for Peter to speak sometimes and it was an easier way to communicate. He also found out last year that sign language was a good way to communicate when his hearing was too loud (not that Ned knew that at the time). Now it was going to be good for when his hearing was too quiet.

-

Ned was worried. He was extremely worried about Peter. He hadn’t heard from his best friend all evening and night, yesterday. And that was AFTER Ned had seen the posts online about a violent avengers and Spider-Man sighting. Ned couldn’t sleep at all.

Peter was a great guy. A hero. But one thing he has always done was talk down his pain. Whether emotional or physical, Peter never wanted to confess to feeling anything but fine. It meant that if there was ever a time where Peter confessed to not being at his best, then something was REALLY wrong. He rushed to school as fast as he could after his texts with Peter. Ned wanted to make sure that he was the first of the two to get there. He had been waiting at their lockers for ten minutes. He needed to see Peter.

“Ned.” someone said right next to him, causing him to jump.

Ned turned to see his best friend showing his go-to smile. It was a specific smile. One that told everyone he was fine while telling Ned that he was anything but. He knew Peter's different facial expressions. He knew how to tell when there was something wrong. This time he didn’t have to pry it out of him or wait it out. Which worried Ned even more.

“Hey Peter. How ya feelin?” He said, signing at the same time.

“Could be better,” Peter replied with a fake laugh.

“You know what, Peter? I have an idea. We should mess with Tony Stark.”

“What? Ned, are you insane?” Peter looked around and replied to Ned with a hushed voice.

“Yes. He hurt you, he deserves to be messed with. It'll bring us some joy. What do you say?” Ned said, causing Peter to give a small smile. A real smile.

“What are you thinking?”

“I can hack into his tower, mess with some of his stuff. Nothing important, just anything that will make him feel crazy. The guy probably has programmed systems for his coffee maker and microwave. Anything like that. I want to inconvenience him to the point of madness.”

“Ned, you are a genius- Can we do it today?”

“Of course, I’d do it now if you wanted- but we should start heading to class.”

“Yeah probably.” They laughed and started walking to their first period.

While they walked, all Ned could think about was any and all ways he could help Peter that day. Peter couldn’t hear, which meant he was going to get exhausted, FAST. He could read lips but there was only so much you could do in classes where everyone was moving and turning their heads while talking. Let alone all the people that interrupt class or raise their hands, talking over everyone and what not.

This was where Ned came in. He could help Peter process everything around him. They sat down in their usual spots in their first period. Ned gave a small wave for Peter’s attention and began to sign.

‘What’s our plan?’

‘What do you mean?’ Peter asked, tilting his head in confusion.

‘I mean, you don’t seem to want anyone knowing that you can’t hear.’

‘Absolutely not. My healing should take care of this soon. I think. I mean it’s already slightly better than last night.’

‘Okay, well in that case. Let’s do what we did last year when you had a hard time talking.’

‘Yeah, I’ll just stick to signing and you can translate to the teachers.’

‘I just don’t want them asking questions-’

Ned was promptly interrupted when Flash decided that moment was a good time to mess with Peter.

“Hey Penis,” Flash said, causing Ned to roll his eyes. Flash always sat behind Peter. When Peter didn’t show any recognition of his words, Flash spoke up again.

“What’s wrong Penis? I saw you signing. Can’t talk today?” Ned clenched his fist. Peter was just pulling out his notebook and pencil for class.

“Are you thinking about your Uncle again?” Flash continued with a smirk.

“Shut up, Flash,” Ned snapped, turning to face the bully. His movement causes Peter to look at Ned. His head followed Ned’s glare over to Flash.

“Oh good ol’ Ned coming so save poor little Parker. You don’t need to fight his battles. He can just speak up for himself.”

Just as Ned was about to snap back, someone else jumped in. Peter was just watching Ned in worry.

“Shut the fuck up, Eugene.” MJ said without looking up from her book.

“Mind your own business,” Flash snapped.

“How can I, when you are flapping your mouth so loudly that I am pretty sure I heard the librarian shush you from across campus-”

“Excuse me-”

“I wasn’t done. I don't have the time to listen to your bullshit, Eugene. I have a reading assignment I’d like to finish before the teacher walks in and you are irritatingly interrupting that. Oh, and while you reflect on this conversation of ours later, maybe think of a better name to call him than ‘Penis’, because it’s unoriginal and humorless,” She finished.

Ned's jaw was currently on the floor, as he silently translated what MJ said to Peter. When he looked over to Peter’s face, he saw Peter’s matching expression.

Meanwhile Flash was frozen in his seat, probably contemplating his life.

-

By the time lunch hit, Peter felt like taking the longest nap ever. He just wanted to go home, crawl in bed and sleep until his healing factor did its job. Ned helped a lot but when he had to focus on so many things at once, while barely being able to hear a single sound AND trying to hide the fact that he could barely hear a single sound-

He was exhausted.

He and Ned sat down at their usual table and began to eat their food.

‘So we should start talking through our plan. Our Iron man plan’ Ned started.

‘Yeah. I’m thinking we find anything we can about his daily habits and find little ways to mess him up without making him think that someone hacked in.’ Peter replied, jotting his thoughts into his phone.

‘Exactly. We need him to think he’s going crazy. He has an A.I., right?’

‘He does. Or at least I think he still does. There was something about his old A.I. being destroyed or altered in Sokovia. But I really doubt Tony Stark would be able to live without creating a new one’

‘We can do it tonight, or at least start doing it tonight.’

‘Want to meet me at my apartment around dinner? You can spend the night, too,’ they agreed and then continued eating.

-

Natasha was meeting the rest of the team for lunch to discuss Spider-Man. So, she had been preparing for an argument since the incident. Steve would be on her side but it was hard to tell who else. Clint might disagree with her still, saying that he wasn't there to watch the kid’s agonizing scream up close like Rhodey, Sam, and Tony.

As she approached the doors, she took a deep breath and did her final preparations before entering the common space.

She walked in and saw Steve and Sam whispering to each other with worried expressions. She approached them and chose to sit down next to Sam.

“Hey, boys.”

“Nat,” Steve said, at the same time as Sam said, “Hey Nat.”

“No one else yet?”

“No. They should be on their way,” Sam said and Steve nodded.

A few moments later, they were joined by Clint and then Rhodey. They both shared the same worried expression as Steve and Sam. They gathered at the table and sat in silence for several minutes waiting for Tony before everyone gave up and started talking at once.

Nat said, “We need to stop chasing Spider-Man,” Sam said, “Spider-Man isn't a danger,” Steve said, “We need to leave Spider-Man alone,” Clint quickly said, “I was wrong, we need to stop chasing Spider-Man,” and Rhodey said, “The chasing needs to end.”

The group froze as Nat realised that they all had prepared the same argument. Another minute passed before Steve spoke up again.

“Where’s Tony?” He asked Rhodey.

“Where do you think?” Rhodey sighed, “He’s locked himself in his lab since yesterday. He won't listen to me. I’ll try again after we finish up here but he’s not doing well.”

“I wouldn't be doing so hot either,” Clint said.

“We need to figure out how we’re going to break the news to Fury,” Sam said.

“We need to tell him when we all can be there to stand in unity. We need to wait until Tony joins us before telling him. That way there, Fury knows that none of us are changing our minds.” Nat replied.

“Fury’s going to be mad,” Clint said, shaking his head.

“Very. But it is necessary. We’ve done nothing but hurt Spider-Man since we started this mission.” Steve added. They all paused for a minute, the only sound being the breathing of the guilt-ridden and panicked Avengers.

“He was in so much pain.” Sam whispered

“And he looked so small.” Rhodey added quietly, staring at the table.

“Nat, I think you might’ve been right- about him being on the young side.” Clint sighed. If this were any other topic, Nat would rub in his confession of being wrong, but this was not the time.

“Yeah. He definitely is on the young side,” She replied without sounding nearly as saddened as she felt.

-

Pepper was walking with Happy to Tony’s lab to force him to take care of himself. The Avengers finished up their meeting a few minutes ago so Rhodey was going to join their mission shortly. She stormed up to the door and loudly knocked to alert Tony. After she was met with silence, she shared a look with Happy before yelling to Tony that she was going to override the locks if he didn’t let her in. When she was met with more silence, she told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to let them inside.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. opened the door just as Rhodey joined the pair, allowing the three of them to walk in all at once.

“Tony, you are leaving this lab right now and joining us for food,” Pepper sternly said. She finally laid her eyes onto Tony as he continued to work on his suit. She could see him struggling to ignore the three as they joined him at his workspace, “Tony.”

“Tones, please you have to take care of yourself.” Rhodey added.

Come on, Tony,” Happy joined in. Tony finally looked up at the trio with watery eyes that he was trying to hide.

“I’m a bit busy right now actually. Try again later. Or better yet- try again in a few days.”

“No Tony. You need to take care of yourself and I am not below physically dragging you out of this room and to the kitchen. Rhodey and Happy are glad to help me out, too. So, you better just listen to me.” No one said anything else for a few moments.

“I don't deserve it,” he muttered as he looked at his desk instead.

“Deserve what, Tones?” Rhodey asked.

“Help… I don’t deserve you guys. Not after what I did to Spider-Man.”

“You’ll fix it. Hell- We’ll all fix it, Tony.” Rhodey tried.

“Really? How? We don’t even know if he’s okay. What if I killed him?” Tony raised his voice.

“You didn’t kill him. You are going to make it up to him.” Pepper said.

“How are we going to fix this? How will he even face me? How am I going to face him?” Tony whispered.

Pepper found it devastating to see Tony look and sound so broken. She was so used to seeing him with his guard up, with his feelings masked behind layers of sarcasm and jokes. It hurt to see him like this. But she knew that he and the team would make it right, now that they saw the gravity of the situation.

“What you are going to do is give it time. You are going to join us for lunch, eat a full meal, and drink an entire glass of water. Then you are going to go to bed, because I don’t need F.R.I.D.A.Y. to tell me that you haven’t slept. After you rest, you are going to meet up with the team you are going to discuss the plan moving forward. I am going to say this now. You are going to need to give Spider-Man time before attempting to approach him- with the best damn apology you can think of. You are a wonderful man, Tony. It is about time you start showing it again.”

“Yeah- yeah okay,” Tony sighed.

She looked over to Rhodey and Happy and they got the message, gently grabbing on to Tony’s arms to help him stand up. Tony promptly let them lead the way to the kitchen.