"Dear Stress, let's break up."
Peter wasn't sure how he managed to fall asleep, although it certainly didn't make him feel rested. He was glad his lights were still off, but he could hear everyone in the kitchen, thunderously loud. He could hear their breathing. Not good. Very not good.
Suddenly, Peter heard the dreaded sounds. Footsteps were coming down the hallway, in his direction. Every footfall felt like a blow to the head. He knew it was Tony from the breathing that he heard grating in his ears. Hearing and sight were often the worst, seconds only to touch. When it came to sensory overload, any touch, any tiny amount of pain, was amplified to a near crippling degree.
Tony opened the door, exposing Peter to the burning, screaming light of the hallway. Peter burrowed into his blankets with a groan, not that it did much to help as the cotton of his sheets felt like it was scraping his skin off, but it did hide his pained expression from Tony.
"Morning, kid." Tony announced, his voice like cymbals bashing Peter upside the head. Tony watched in confusion as Peter seemed to stiffen as if uncomfortable. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked, moving to switch on the lights. The movement sent a spike of danger into Peter's spidey sense, making them go off with an alarming amount of pain in his head.
There it was, the number 1 most painful sense. Spidey sense.
"Fine!" Peter managed to bark before Tony turned on the light and ruined Peter's cover. The blast of brightness definitely would've made Peter scream or scramble under the bed. That might've been a bit suspicious. "Just... stayed up too late."
"Again?" Tony growled, missing the flinch from Peter at his voice. Why couldn't Tony just leave? Peter really just wanted to curl up in a corner until it was over. He hoped it didn't last the whole week. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I was just so excited..." Peter trailed off, his ability to communicate increasinly hindered by the amount of stress on his body.
"Alright, well you still don't get to sleep in. Your punishment is having to suffer the day half asleep. Up and at 'em!" Tony insisted, and Peter forced himself not to pass out. Focus. You can do this. You're Spider-man for crying out loud! Not some whiney teenager! With that thought literally ringing in his head, Peter forced himself to sit up.
"Sure, seems fair." He drawled, no humor in the could-be sarcastic comment. "Just... lemme get dressed." He slurred, Tony swimming in and out of vision. One minute he could see every wrinkle on Tony's face, the next he couldn't tell the man from the door. Do not throw up. You are not going to throw up.
"Ok, don't miss breakfast." Tony demanded, shutting the door with the force of the Hulk tearing a building out of the ground. Peter shuddered from it, his body no longer having to hold itself together now that no one was watching.
Peter struggled to his feet, visibly shaking, and moved to his closet. He was already anticipating the pain of denim on his legs, but went for a soft linen tee shirt to try to make it easier on himself. Getting dressed, Peter braced himself, before slowly opening the door.
The light burned every inch of him it touched, and he had to close his eyes to adjust. Finally, he was able to step slowly into the hallway with none of his usual pep. The closer he got to the voices swimming in the kitcehn, the worse it got. Finally, he had to lean against the wall and take several breaths.
He couldn't do this.
He had to do this.
Peeling himself off the wall, Peter took another step forward. And instantly fell on his face.
Pain exploded in his nerves, making it impossible to do much more than curl up on the ground and wait for it to pass. Peter made sure not to make too much sound, hoping he was still far away enough from the kitchen that no one would hear him.
He had not accounted for Wanda to be walking through the hallway.
"Oh my stars, Peter!" She exclaimed, introducing Peter to a whole new world of agony. He let out a low groan of protest, but it didn't stop her from dropping at his side and touching him, shaking him, making him want to thrash out and go limp at the same time.
"Sta... pl... stop!" He finally managed with a pleading tone, causing Wanda to freeze. Peter could sense what she was tempted to do, really hoping she wouldn't. However, Peter's hopes did nothing to stop her from breaching his mind.
Wanda immediately launched back. She had merely dipped a toe in the waters of Peter's mind, but it was too much for her to handle. Pain filled every inch of him, and she was making it worse. Wanda bit her lip and scrambled away from Peter, though every part of her wanted to hug him, she knew it would only make it worse. He was only a few feet from her, moaning in pain, yet there was nothing she could do.
She had never experienced that kind of pain on herself. Never seen it in others. Her gut clenched in horror. Not knowing what was happening, she was suddenly terrified Peter could die. She turned to run, but stopped. From what she had seen in Peter's mind, noises, bright lights, all that made it worse. Could he be suffering from a sensory overload? Natasha had told her about a few times Bruce got them, but she had never let on that they were this bad.
Wanda opted to float as quickly as she could back to the kitchen, hopefully sparing Peter the pain of her footsteps. It killed her to leave him like this, but she knew that would be better for him.
Wanda padded as softly as she could into the kitchen, debating what to do. Making a big deal about it might make things worse for Peter, so she only went to Natasha.
"Nat, I need your help." She whispered to the red head, who looked up from her toast with an incredulous expression. "It's Peter." Incredulity forgotten, Nat put down her spoon and book and focused on Wanda. "What happened?"
"He's suffering from sensory overload in the hallway." Wanda explained, and Nat's eyes went wide. If he couldn't even make it to the kitchen, it must've been bad. "It's bad, Nat. I-I tried to help but..." Wanda looked dowm, desperation curling into her fists. "He's in so much pain." She breathed, gut twisting. "I don't know what to do." Even Nat looked terrified, blinking quickly. "Is he awake?" She asked, thinking back and trying to remember what Bruce taught her. Wanda furrowed her brows. "I don't know. He knew I was there, but was unresponsive on the most part. He's just in so much pain, Nat!" She shook her head, looking up to make sure the other Avenger's weren't listening.
Nat thought hard. This wasn't good. They needed to get him somewhere dark and quiet, but doing so might cause him even more pain. "So you couldn't speak to him? He didn't say anything?"
"He only asked me to stop when I tried to wake him. I found him curled up on the floor." Wanda bit her lip as Nat's expression became, if possible, more worried. "This isn't good." The assassin remarked absently. "I went into his head, well, not really. I just barely tested the waters of his mind." Wanda shuddered as she tried to explain. "I couldn't handle it." Nat's eyes widened. There was no more time to waste.
Nat slowly got to her feet, aware that Peter could probably hear their movements even from his room. She had never considered Peter could get sensory overloads, but when Tony told them about his powers she shouldn't have been surprised. She should've prepared everyone else, done research, gone into Bruce's files. She should've been ready.
But now, she wasn't.
Nat told Wanda to stay, too many people around Peter would only make it worse. Part of Nat thought it would be merciful to just let Peter slip into unconsciousness, but she also remembered Bruce telling her waking up from that was often way worse.
Creeping down the hallway, Natasha employed all her training to make as little noise as possible. When she rounded the corner and saw Peter, every inch of her icy heart shattered. He looked so small, so vulnerable. Peter was curled up on his side, trying to make himself as small as possible. His hands gripped the sides of his head, covering his ears, and his eyes were squeezed shut. Natasha could see him visibly shaking. Some kind of mothering instinct hit her like a ton of bricks and all she wanted to do was scoop him into her arms. However she forced herself to continue creeping forwards at an even pace.
"Peter?" She breathed, barely saying anything. Even so, Peter let out a low whimper. "It's going to be ok." She continued, and Peter's breaths evened slightly. He heard Natasha, her tone not hurting quite as much as everyone elses. "I need to get you away from here." The assassin murmered, now directly in front of Peter. She did her best not to breathe directly on him, as silly as it seemed. He cracked open his hazel eyes and Nat saw the shine of tears in them as he looked up at her. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to.
Back in the kitchen, Wanda sat wringing her hands. Tony was becoming increasingly suspicious, especially since Peter was still nowhere to be seen. He'd said he wouldn't miss breakfast, so where was he? Tony stared into his coffee. Peter had been acting strange...
Now worry clawed at the billionare and he stood. Wanda looked at him in horror as he made a move to leave. "Um, Tony! I, uh, think you should... not waste this coffee!" Wanda told him, earning weird looks from everyone.
"Wanda, what is going on?" Tony hissed, and Wanda sighed. "Stay calm, please." She whispered, making Tony strain to listen. The other Avengers eavesdropped curiously. "Peter..." Tony stiffened at the mention of his name, "Peter is in the hallway, suffering from sensory overload." All the Avengers stood in horror, Bucky and Steve sharing a knowing look. "Ssh!" Wanda chided at the sound of all the chairs screeching. "Nat's with him." She explained evenly. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "But its bad. It's really bad. I couldn't do anything..." she trailed off.
Without saying anything more, Tony stalked into the hallway. Wanda bit her lip, apologizing to Peter as she watched him go.
DUH DUH DUUUUUUH
Momma Nat is so cute! But Dad Tony is mad... sometimes even I feel bad for what I do to these characters.
Sometimes.
~Meow