The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Forty-Two

Peter continued to stare at him with a blank expression; there were a few tears brimming his eyes. He opened his mouth but nothing came out, just a small squeak that was full of emotion.

"Damnit Pete! Just say something! ANYTHING!" Pietro jumped up from his position in front of the couch, turning around to face him, "Come on, Peter. You're spider-man, you don't give up! You keep fighting, you don't want to stop, you keep pushing, you keep fighting. But you've given up! You know how upset she'd be if she saw you like this?! She'd be devastated. She'd hate herself. She'd hate herself for making you this way, for watching you wither away like you're nothing." he grabbed onto the boy's shoulders, he stared into his eyes, "You're important too!" his voice broke, "You're important too, you're not just her brother, you're my brother too! Peter, you gotta take yourself!"

Tears were starting to trickle down the younger teen's cheeks, he opened his mouth yet nothing came out. He just couldn't find the words.

"For fuc-"

Wanda appeared in the room, a red mist fading away around her, "What is going on in here?!" she asked, her volume half as loud as her brother's was.

Peter's teary expression was full of emotion, Wanda could hear his thoughts bouncing around in her mind.

She walked over to her brother and grabbed him by the ear, "Stop yelling at him!" she hissed.

"I'm tired of him killing himself, Wands! H-he's dying!" Pietro yelled, pointing at the brunet behind them.

She started pulling him out of the room, "I know that, we're trying to help. But yelling at him won't help anything Pietro! We need to be patient with him. You know he does this....j-just he's never done the not eating thing..." she sighed softly, "But yelling at him isn't helping anything." she replied, her voice firm.

"I'm worried about him Wands," the ash-blond replied, "he's so thin...and pale..."

Wanda could see the emotions in her brother's eyes, he wasn't one for crying, but she could see that he wanted to cry; she let go of his ear and rubbed his cheek with her thumb, "We all are P...but yelling at him won't fix anything. If we do that, he goes backwards, back to not sleeping and not eating. If he does that, it will kill him, at least this way is slower, it's reversible. His powers ensure that...." she swallowed thickly, "it gives us time to find her and bring her home."

"But Wan-"

"No buts Pietro...besides..." she paused, pinching the bridge of her nose an action that she'd picked up from Tony and their adoptive father.

"Besides what witch?" he asked.

"I heard what he was saying." she replied.

"Wands, I don't know if you've noticed, but Pete hasn't spoken a word in a month." her twin replied, looking at her like she'd lost her mind.

She shook her head, "Not out loud, but his thoughts are just as effective and just as loud. He's trying P." she paused for a second and squeezed her eyes shut; she opened her eyes and wiped away a stray tear, "He just can't get them out, it's like they're stuck in there. Like he's stuck in there. Don't think he's just shut down, it's a trauma response. Remember how he told us he did the same thing when his uncle died?"

"Yeah, he stopped talking for ten days...May was for five days, that stopped when princessa came."

Wanda nodded, her lips slightly pursed, "Now she's not here, she's missing. Peanut brought him out of that, because she was here. Tony told us the first words he spoke after he called him crying was, "Did someone ask for me?". You know when that was?" she asked, knowing that he knew exactly when that was, "It was right after Penny asked for him. She's the one that brought back his voice, because he knew she wouldn't want to see him quiet like that, she'd worry. He hadn't seen her in over eight years, yet he knew that she would be worried about why he was acting like that, why he wasn't speaking. Why he'd slowed down on his eating and slept less, why he was locking himself in his room. Tony told us all of that, so did Nat; she was worried for him when she left for her mission. But when she came back, Penny was here and he was better, he was eating and laughing and smiling. Now she's not here, so it's back. It's not like she's at summer camp Pietro, or down in Medbay with the flu again. She's missing and we haven't found her yet, the earth's mightiest heroes haven't..." she hiccuped with hard emotion and held back a sob; her hands were starting to tremble as she spoke, "we haven't found her. Peter needs silence, he needs us to be patient and understanding. Not to yell at him for it," she pointed to the other room where Peter was quietly sitting by himself, "so apologize to him because he's trying the best he can." the redhead replied, her arms crossed over her chest while she finished the lecture she was giving her twin.