The World I Knew [Discontinued]

Forgive, Don't Forget

"We made this for you, sir," Abram said proudly, before looking at Adi, and stepping away to reveal the wall behind them.

Spider-Man, in his battle pose, was painted on the wall.

The art was no masterpiece, but it wasn't bad either, and it was certainly flattering to the real image of the real person.

"Thanks for saving the world."

Peter clicked the message off, partially stunned, and reached for another.

And so it went on.

A slideshow, comprised of pictures of friends, family reunited.

Art of him.

Tributes to him.

Gratitude and praise for him.

Messages of support.

Pity, and guilt, that he had to fight through being the last one in the world.

He looked around, half wondering where all the negative stuff was, because surely there was someone who thought he could've done something different, he could've done better; though maybe it was just that the ILS's weren't taking those messages, in order to keep him as upbeat as possible.

Peter almost laughed at the thought, because there was no way he was going to avoid the trauma. Not after this. At least he was lucky to not have let everything really settle yet. Not enough to have a panic attack or an anxiety attack over it.

Not yet, at least.

*****

"What did I tell you about staying out of my way?!" Tony snapped at someone, Peter raising his head from where it had been resting on the kitchen table.

Captain America looked mildly annoyed as well from where he was standing in the doorway.

"I told you to stay away from us!" Tony said.

"Mr. Stark, please stop," Peter sighed, already getting tired of the constant head-butting whenever Steve was around.

"It's not like I have a tracker on you, Tony. I don't always know where you are," Steve sighed calmly, "And this time, I'm not going to leave."

"You'd better, before you start a fight, and the kid has to be brought into this."

"Mr. Stark, you're being silly," Peter said, standing up and looking at his mentor. "Mr. Rogers hasn't even done anything and--" he put his hand up when Tony stared to argue, "--I know he hurt you, but this is really just getting ridiculous."

"I'm trying to protect you," Tony said.

"Yeah? This is overboard, Mr. Stark. I'm fine," Peter insisted. "I'm not helpless anymore, and he--" he gestured to the captain, "--is not going to attack. He's said it multiple times, and he's said he's sorry. Can't you just hear him out?"

Tony fixed Peter with a hard stare, as if shocked and betrayed Peter wasn't taking his side. Steve, mercifully, stayed quiet, silently observing the staring contest.

Peter won.

"Fine," Tony sighed, sitting back down in his abandoned seat.

"C'mon," Peter said, waving Steve over with a victorious grin. The super soldier hesitantly came over, giving Tony a wide berth, and finally settled himself as far away from Tony and Peter as he could at the table.

Then, Peter folded his hands, and put them on the table, straightening his posture and taking on a serious look. "Alright, time for your first therapy appointment! First, we'll introduce ourselves, our names, superhero tag, age, and something about ourselves. Who'd like to go first?" He raised his hand, "Ooh! Ooh! I would! I would! Great, thanks. Okay!" He stood up. "My name is Peter Benjamin Parker, I'm Spider-Man, I'm seventeen years old, aaaannd... I have so much trauma." Peter grinned at the two superheroes, who just stared at him, unimpressed and tired.