I See Them

Surprise

Natasha sat criss-cross-applesauce behind Peter and rested her hands on her knees, mimicking Peter's position. She was just close enough for their backs to be touching; the lumps of Peter's spine digging into her uncomfortably, but she didn't care in the slightest. It was apparent that something was bothering Peter, and she would help him in any way she could. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Again, she got no response.

This wasn't the first time she had found Peter isolating himself in the panic room, trying to stave off his demons alone. He often went there when he was experiencing a sensory overload or was feeling overwhelmed. It was no secret that Tony and herself were the closest to Peter; with Steve being a close second. Tony was practically the kid's dad, and she wore the title of aunt Tasha proudly. They knew him the best and were usually the ones that found Peter and coaxed him out of hiding.

"You've been a lot quieter this past month." She noted. "Not that you've ever been much of an extrovert."

"I'm fine, Tasha."

She smiled to herself, thrilled Peter was willingly communicating with her. "Would you prefer English, Русский, or another?" (Russian) Both spiders were fluent in multiple languages and would often use more than one dialect during a single conversation; the different tongues flowing into each other smoothly like water down a stream as they conversed.

Peter leaned farther back against his pseudo aunt, relishing in the warmth and comfort she brought. "English. I'm too tired to focus on anything else." He sounded fatigued as if he hadn't slept in days, his voice slightly hoarse. The purple rings under his eyes a physical affirmation of his fatigue.

"Do you want to talk about anything? Or would you rather I ask yes or no questions?"

"Questions, please."

Depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem were tough things to deal with, let alone talk about. And Peter wasn't one to vent to others because he didn't want to bother anyone, often putting on a mask instead, feigning normalcy in order to spare others. A facade so good that he left even the best spies in the world guessing. So, when something was clearly bothering Peter, the heroes found a way to get him to open up without him having to have to do much talking; a game of yes or no. And more often than not, it worked.

"All right, then." She tapped her finger against her chin, trying to choose the best way to go about this. Eventually, she decided to start with broad questions, narrowing things down depending on what Peter's answers were. "Is the month of October hard for you? And or Halloween?"

Peter was quiet for a few seconds before whispering, "yes and yes."

"Have you always felt this way?"

"Yes."

"I've noticed you're not a big fan of horror movies and creepy or scary stuff in general. Does that have anything to do with your negative feelings towards this month?"

"Yes."

"Has something happened at school that made things worse?"

The teen excelled in every school subject with the exception being PE since he pretended to be weak so no one would suspect anything. But he had arrived at the Tower with fresh bruises on his face on numerous occasions, bruises he couldn't explain. They were difficult to see most times because Peter's healing factor usually healed smaller injuries in under an hour. Unluckily for Peter, it was only a twenty-minute commute from Midtown tech to Avengers Tower. So he wasn't always able to hide the clear signs of bullying.

"Yes."

"Was it a bully?"

Peter sighed heavily and maneuvered himself to rest the back of his head on Natasha's shoulder but was still facing the opposite direction. "Yes and no." He sighed, "today was just... not a good day."

Natasha ran her delicate fingers through the honey-brown curls tickling her cheek. Everyone loved those adorable curls, never passing up the chance to pet or ruffle them. "I won't force you to talk about it. But you know it's only going to hurt more if you keep everything bottled up inside."

"I-I know. I s'pose it's time I told you guys anyway. But... I don't want you guys to be afraid of me or... or to hate me."

He sounded so exhausted and worn out and Natasha had to fight the urge to turn around and hug him. Instead, she calmly said, "we could never hate you, Peter. You're a part of our team. Please don't worry about that."

"It's-" he hesitated, "it's kinda weird."

"Peter, you're a meta with spider powers. Aliens have come from the sky, the multiverse is real, and one of our teammates is a god." She chuckled, shrugging nonchalantly. "Not much can surprise me. It's not like you can see dead people or anything, right?"

Her smirk fell off once she turned and saw the uneasy look on Peter's face. "Right?" She asked again, less confidently this time.

He chuckled nervously, "surprise."