A Family of Flaws

Chapter Twenty-Seven; A Soon-To-Be Arrival

Peter stood in the hallway for a moment, almost hugging the wall. His grip on the corner tightened a fraction and the smallest sound of cracking reached his ears. He instantly let go and backed away from the wall in shock, staring down at his hand in surprise before looking back up at the wall. There was the faintest indent, barely noticeable, but it was still there.

He cringed and sucked in a calming breathe, clenching his shaking hands into fists. He rarely lost control of his powers. Everything going on with May was really fucking with him.

Peter took another moment to calm his nerves before he quietly snuck past May's bedroom and tiptoed into the kitchen. He grabbed the bottle of pills and glared down at it, a dark thought sneaking its way into the back of his mind.

Tentatively, Peter reached forward and grasped the bottle. He pulled it close to him and stared at it, shock washing over him as his actions registered in his head. He dropped the bottle onto the counter and dashed back to his room, closing his door softly despite his panic, and fell onto his bed.

What the hell was wrong with him? First, he was on the verge of a panic attack thinking about Black Widow and Hawkeye, then he was racing out of his room to vent to May, he nearly cracked the wall, and now he was thinking about taking May's pills? His mind was a mess. He was a mess.

Peter pulled at his hair again, tugging the locks roughly as anxiety crawled its way into his chest. He just didn't know what to do. There was a lot of stuff happening in his life— both of his lives.

Peter stayed there on his bed until the sun slowly crept over the city skyline, and then he continued to stay there even when May woke up for another shift.

Everything inside of him felt jittery despite his absolute exhaustion. He just wanted to sleep. Was that so unreasonable?

Peter stared at the ceiling once again, an emptiness settling inside of him. It was really hard to be optimistic when everything in his life seemed to be going to shit. Except for the internship, the one thing that he was truly looking forward to nowadays.

Even going out as Spider-Man was something that made him anxious. That little incident with the kid, Liam, had him on edge when he went out. And the Avengers were a different matter entirely— sure, he looked up to them and he was happy that they saw potential in him, but he was now constantly afraid of embarrassing himself in front of them. They felt like a terrible shadow that is shielding him, trapping him. They were watching him, studying his powers and behavior. And he was just so scared that he would screw up and expose his identity.

Peter sat up and looked around his room, trying to shake his anxious thoughts. It was a little past nine now, which was rather surprising considering it was nearly three in the morning last time he checked the clock. He had been laying in bed for a long time, doing nothing more than thinking.

He needed to do something if he wasn't going to sleep. There was a distant tug at the back of his mind, telling him to put on his suit and go out into the city to help, but after his little incident earlier (technically yesterday now) he didn't think it was a good idea for him to go out just yet.

He was about to pull on some clothes to walk around the city when another thought crossed his mind. Maybe he should put on his suit. But he doesn't have to fight crime. A certain mask-buddy of his was always able to find him.

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*Tony's POV*

  Tony sat on the couch on the Avengers floor of the tower, his arm was wrapped around Pepper's shoulders as she had her head resting on his shoulder.