Pain Will Always Come Back to Haunt You

Broken

"How do you feel?" Bruce whispers, just in case Peter's ears are sensitive. Peter blinks a few times until his eyes don't burn.

"I'm good, no problem. It's worse when I'm panicking, then everything goes into overdrive," he laughs nervously. Bruce's eyes slowly widen, as if everything in the world suddenly makes sense.

"Of course! When people are in a stressful, life-or-death situation, they're autonomic sympathetic nervous system kicks in with the fight-or-flight response. Their epinephrine gives them the necessary energy to either fight or run. You, being Spider-Man, are in a life threatening situation every other night . Your senses are already dialed up without the added adrenaline, which is probably what puts them into hyperdrive. We don't even know how much epinephrine and norepinephrine your body produces yet." He seems to be switching between talking to Peter and thinking out loud.

"That would make sense. I haven't really considered it like that." It kind of bothers Peter that there could be other things caused by the spider bite that he still doesn't know about.

"We'll get everything sorted out," Bruce comforts with a small smile. Peter returns his smile and nods. After that, Peter starts to hear a dull rumble approaching the Tower. He instantly recognizes it as the Iron Man thrusters and hops off the couch to wait by the debris riddled hole in the Tower. Bruce follows him with a confused look, but catches on a few moments later when he's able to hear the thrusters too. Tony quickly comes into view and lands inside with the clank of his metal covered feet.

"So? Any news?" Peter questions eagerly as the nanobots begin to deconstruct Tony's Iron Man suit.

"Nothing. Absolutely dick diddly. Nothing left behind and nothing to follow. Spent almost an hour just flying through five square blocks. It felt like I was chasing a damn ghost." The suit is gone by the time he finishes his explanation, obviously exasperated. Peter rakes a hand through his slightly damp hair. If only I had been stronger or faster, then we could've beaten that guy. He didn't even have any powers.

"Okay, okay, what about Toomes?" He hasn't seen Toomes since he swung out the window. "Is there, like, some way we can track his tech or figure out what happened at the prison or something?" Peter tries to think of all the possibilities in order to get them brainstorming. He just wants to be productive after how much he botched that fight. Tony glances to Bruce, then looks back to Peter. Tony opens his mouth, but doesn't seem to know what he wants to say. How is he supposed to tell Peter? "Mr. Stark?" Peter prompts.

"Kid, Toomes...he wasn't, he wasn't exactly...here." Tony stumbles through his sentence, but manages to keep his voice tight and even. Peter draws his eyebrows together, not quite understanding what Tony's getting at.

"But, I saw him and I felt- " Peter cuts himself off, realization slamming into him so quickly that the wind is almost knocked out of him. He didn't feel anything. He never felt anything because Toomes never touched him. "Wait, wait no. He couldn't have been an illusion. He, he tore up the door and, and he made a huge hole in the wall! That blast he shot could have, could have killed you, Mr. Stark!" He grips his hair with both his hands and tries to control his breathing before he spirals into panic.

"It's okay, Pete. We'll fill you in on everything, but first you need to eat and calm down." Tony tries to keep his voice gentle yet insistent as he slowly walks closer to Peter.

"No! I'm tired of not being in control of my own life! I don't want nightmares and I don't want people like Toomes controlling my thoughts! I can't...I can't do it!" Rogue tears slip out of Peter's eyes, which only make him more angry. I'm not sad and I'm not weak! Why am I crying?! Tony lightly places his hands on Peter's shoulders, unsure of what to do to help a crying kid. All of this is way out of his depth. Peter can't bare to look his mentor in the eyes, not when he feels like such a kid. It isn't his job to babysit me.