The recovery process had been incredibly slow and Peter was on the verge of insanity when his mandatory bed rest finally ended. At first, it felt like he was learning to walk all over again, but after a few days, he was back to his usual pace. Tony had been like a mother hen and was constantly hovering over his shoulder as if waiting for something to happen.
Peter had been embarrassed when he was constantly visited by a multitude of Avengers seeing as his chest was now a built-in nightlight. While he was proud of his arc reactor he couldn't help but feel strange looking at the new addition.
As he walked through the tower he found himself remembering the facility he'd been kept in. The thoughts would fade after some time but seeing something as simple as a red-colored shirt could send him back into a downward spiral once more.
Everyone tiptoed around the entire topic of his captivity seeing as the first mention of it had sent him into a panic.
Flashback~
Peter stared at the television with a small smile as he watched the newest episode of his favorite Netflix show. Natasha and Bucky sat next to him, keeping him company. Peter had a bad feeling when only the two of them walked in. It seemed whenever the two came together things were usually serious.
Just when he'd let his guard down the questioning started.
"I know you've been through a lot but we need to talk to you about what happened. Fury is threatening to do it himself if we don't. We know that you went through a lot so we'll make it quick. Is that ok?" Everything in Peter's brain told him to scream and tell them to leave but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He wanted nothing more than to run out the door and hide somewhere far away from this conversation.
He gave a grim nod and shut off the tv to eliminate any distracting background noise. He assessed their body postures. As per usual they were alert, their backs were completely straightened, but their shoulders completely faced him and they looked oddly stiff as if frozen.
"We'll start simple. What did the room look like?" Peter felt the mental image run through his mind in a horrifyingly slow motion as if a horror film.
"It was dark," she nodded as if urging him to continue. "The only light I could see came from a small barred hole in the ceiling, and I could make out the shape of the room. I was by the back wall and there were these rusted manacles on my wrist and ankle, but then I realized it wasn't rust. They were so red," Peter's eyes were wide and they stared into the distance at something that neither of them could see.
"Peter you're not there anymore. It's ok. Stay calm and tell me what happened next." Peter took several deep intakes of breath before continuing.
"There was a door but it was thick steel and there were no gaps to see around it. Then the siren went off. When I was sure no one else was coming I managed to break the manacles and pry the door off of its hinges." The thought of the man Peter had killed came to mind next and his heart began to beat harshly in his chest and all of the breath left his body.
"Pete! Pete breathe!"
End of Flashback~
No one had asked again. He assumed Natasha had made sure of it.
He'd began sleeping shirtless at night because the only thing that seemed to calm him after the nightmares was the light that came from his arc reactor. It filled his heart with a warm feeling and helped to distract him.
Sometimes he would go to the kitchen after he calmed down and would sit by the bar with whatever Avenger was there at the time.
Another thing that had been difficult was school. The story the school had been given was that he'd been kidnapped by some serial killer. Peter didn't think it was believable but surprisingly no one had questioned it. No one brought it up and even Flash left him alone.
But it had only taken four days before something brought him into another trauma flashback. He'd seen the ink that had leaked from a red pen onto his desk and that was all it had taken for him to fall to the floor in tears.
"Peter? Peter!" He felt someone's hand on his shoulder and he let out a loud scream as he pushed himself away from the hand until his back hit the wall.
"What happened?" "Is he ok?" "What do we do?" He could faintly hear the voices in the background but none of it seemed to bring him out of the prison that was his mind.
"It's so red. So red... so red." He muttered pitifully to himself. He was shaking like a leaf and everyone stood watching with wide eyes.
"Should we call an ambulance?"
"No, let me call his guardian."
When Tony arrived he was in a fetal position, asleep on the ground.
Even time couldn't heal this wound or help him forget.
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Requests:
Guess whose quarantined AGAIN? This is like the fourth time. This time my best friend got it.
Anywho... I finally got a boyfriend (TMI?) I'm very excited about it. That's literally all I have going on so..
How are you guys? (please entertain me I'm so bored).