Potato Guns and Web Slingers

Chapter 18

As soon as her hand touched the doorknob, my heart started racing.

"I can't sleep." I blurted our. She turned to face me, expecting more. "I— no matter how hard I try, I—" I let out a bitter laugh, letting a tear fall in the process, "God, I'm pathetic."

She walked a little too quickly back to her chair, flashing her sympathetic eyes, "No, Peter. You aren't... Why can't you sleep?"

"Nightmares." I croaked out.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked and I nodded eagerly. "Okay." As soon as she said that I shook my head.

"I— I don't think I can." I stuttered out.

"Did they start after Thanos?" I shook my head. She scribbled something on her pad.

"Before." I swallowed hard. "Toomes." I gasped as I felt the building crushing me all over again. I shut my eyes, feeling the crushing weight of the building on me. His laugh so close, yet so far. I was trying to breathe, gasping for air, not getting any.

"Hey, hey, Peter. I need you to open your eyes okay? Peter!" I heard in the echoey distance. I felt a hand touch mine and I jolted back to reality. It felt so real. I felt a tear fall from my face. "Breathe, Peter. You are okay. You are not there. You are here, with me. You are safe."

"What the fuck was that?!" I shrieked. I tried moving, but I couldn't. Oh, right. I'm fucking paralyzed from the waist down. Probably will be forever.

"It was a flashback, Peter. But you're safe."

"Flashback?!" My eyes widened as I tried to steady my breathing.

"It's okay Peter."

"No it isn't! I— that... that wasn't a dream! That—" I gasped for air.

"Peter. It's okay." She took my hand in hers. "I think that is enough for today. I will come see you in a week. I hope to see you on your feet by then." She smiled before giving me one last squeeze. She closed the door on her way out.

Leaving me with my thoughts.

Tony's POV

May and I sat outside of his room, waiting for Tina to come out. She was in there for a good 10 minutes before she came out. I immediately stood up, May following close behind.

She looked up at us with a face that pretty much said it was destined to be bad news.

"So?" I asked, hoping, praying, it wasn't bad news.

"I'm sorry, Tony. There is clear evidence of..." She paused, "Mrs. Parker, I am prescribing him a three month prescription of Paroxetine."

"That's an antidepressant." I budged in, "You think he's depressed?"

"Not as much depressed as having anxiety. He um, he had a flashback in there, back to uh, he said, Toomes? Does that word mean anything to you guys?" I could feel all my blood drain from my face.

Toomes? Flashbacks?

"Flashbacks?" May asked, questioning it for me.

"There are serious signs that Peter has a form of mild PTSD. He said he has pretty bad nightmares, although this was the first time he seemed to have a flashback. Do you know by any chance what he was flashing back to?" She turned to me. I glanced at May real quick before taking in a deep breath.

"Adrian Toomes. He uh, was Peter's first big bad guy. He told me about what happened later after Toomes was in Prison, but, Times he uh, he dropped a building on Peter." I whispered the last bit, but May let out a tiny gasp.