Chapter Text
The first thing Peter noticed after slowly drifting out of unconciusness was a steady beeping sound. At first it was quiet and soft, luring him slowly out of his comfortable state of sleep but it soon grew louder. Now the sound had become a scull piercing shriek that felt like a dagger was shoved into his ears every time it beeped.
The second thing he realized was that he was lying in a bed, with soft pillows and a blanket covering his body up to his torso. Now, this wouldn't have usually been the thing to alarm him but considering he had been living on the streets for a year now, it did. Therefore he shot up from the comfortable pillows, ready to fight someone or something. Only to be stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder, how had he not noticed anyone else being in the room? Probably because of the beeping sound, which had now sped up and was becoming almost unbearable.
During his shooting up from the bed, Peter had also opened his eyes like any normal person would after waking up. The only problem was, he could not see. Peter clawed at the hand on his shoulder and flailed in the bed, trying desperately to get his eyes to open even though he knew they already were.
The hand on his shoulder didn't budge and soon two more came on his legs, holding them firmly in place too. “Hey, Spidey!" A voice shouted, “You gotta calm down man, it's just us.” Wait a second, Peter knew that voice. He forced his body to stop moving and fell back against the pillows.
"That's it,” Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, said. Peter fought back a scoff, or maybe a cry, he wasn't really sure. After a few seconds of breathing, Peter opened his mouth, “What is going on, where am i?” He had tried to sound intimidating, hell even calm, but his voice had betrayed him, quivering and sounding younger and more scared than it had in years.
He had to fight the urge to put his hands over his ears to shield them from the torturous beeping sound. The avengers had already heard his voice and they knew he was young from before so that would totally give him away. Instead he laid there waiting for an answer as he heard shuffling around him and someone new coming in through a door.
Peter knew that Clint had moved from his side and another unidentified person was now standing in his place. He had barely heard their footsteps through the beeping sound, but he had felt the small gush of air that hit his face and ruffled his hair just the slightest. Presumably from a lab coat meaning Banner was probably the unidentified individual th-
Wait. Hold on a frickin minute. The gears in his head spun faster than ever before and he could feel his breaths quicken again. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!-
"Spider-Man!" The faint voice of Bruce Banner called, barely heard over the newfound ringing in his ears.
“Are you okay?” One of Peter's hands reached shakily up towards his face, skin against skin. "Wha s wr’ng?”
He felt himself start to hyperventilate as he realized his secret was now out. The avengers had seen his face now, probably searched him up in the database too. They would pry his suit and web shooters from his hands as they contacted Cps, because spider-man was no man. No, he was a sixteen year old kid, with no family and no place to go.
The hands returned as he tried to get up from the bed again, his hands barely managing to rip out some tubes before he was pinned down against the bed. People were shouting and running around the room now, but Peter couldn't make out anything they were saying. It was like static in the back of his head, muffled behind his thoughts and that god awful beeping sound.
His right arm was suddenly forced around and Peter felt a pinch seconds after. A sudden drowsiness fell over him as he dipped into unconsciousness again.
____
The next time Peter woke, the beeping sound was much quieter than it had been the first time. Still annoying, but he was able to live with it. That was not the sound though that brought him out of his sleep. Peter could hear someone talking -no- arguing in what was probably meant to be hushed voices, but they were not really meeting the criteria.
Not wanting to give himself away just yet, Peter kept his eyes closed. He was unsure if he could actually see anything again after last time anyways.
There seemed to be two people in the room, and they were not happy.
“Can't you see the guy is not a guy he is a kid!” One of the voices said, “We need to contact his parents and let them know he's here, they're probably worried sick.”
The other person made a sound that could range as both a whine and a sigh. “I know, but the kid has helped us out a bunch of times, he's a good kid and i want to earn his trust” a pause, “He clearly has issues and i want to be there for him, because as much as i or anyone else can argue, i have grown fond of the guy and i know you have too” This voice sounded suspiciously like stark. “And i don't think getting friday to search him up and calling his parents here will get him to trust us, we also don't know his home life, for all you know, calling could only make things worse for him”
Peter was speechless. His whole body was stiff and a once familiar warmth snaked its way through his chest. He was scared that if he moved now, the man would take it all back, but he was even more scared of the words themselves. The way they squeezed his heart, and formed a shell around his brain. He wanted nothing more than to embrace the truth that they cared about him and that that was okay. But he couldn't, not after everything that had happened. Not when he knew what happened to the people who he so foolishly let in. Not when he knew they were a safe warm town and he was the dam that could flood them any second. And letting them in was opening that dam, dooming them to a fate of drowning, however long it would take.
He shut the thoughts out and breathed slowly, he promised to himself then, that he would never let the avengers in, he would never bestow that cruel fate upon them. They deserved better than that, better than him.
Suddenly one of the people in the room cleared their throat, “We know that you're awake kid”. Peter sighed and opened his eyes, not that surprised, but still a good bit horrified to find that he could only see blobs coloured in shades of gray, black and white. Despite him already knowing he would most likely have trouble seeing after last time, his breath hitched.
The two others seemed to spring into action at that, one of them calling on Banner while the other appeared on Peter's side.
“You caught me stark” He said, practically feeling the confusion radiating from the man. “How did you-“
The man was cut off as dr. Banner entered the room, the door creaking on its hinges as the man hurried inside. “What's wrong!?”
Peter lifted his right hand slightly in a greeting manner, “Hey Doc!” Bruce hurried to his side at that, looming over Peter as a gray blob in his vision.
“Glad you're awake spidey” The man said as he presumably looked him over, “How are you feeling?”
Since Peter felt no need to lie as he was kinda trapped and blind, and could probably use some medical help for once. He told the truth to the avengers for what was most likely the first time since they met. “Ok, doc” he said in a half cheery voice only ruined by the rasp of his throat. “Aside from the blind issue and the intense headache, i feel great”
Bruce stilled at that for a second, before grabbing something off a table and pointing it in Peter's eyes. Peter guessed the mystery object to be a light, checking how his pupils reacted. Spoiler: they did not react well.
“If you guys dont mind” Peter said as Bruce was still checking his eyes. “What the hell happened, and where am i?” The doctor stilled in front of Peter and the other unidentified person in the room choked a little.
“Um, what exactly do you remember before waking up here?” Bruce asked at the same time as Tony muttered “language” under his breath. The exasperated sigh that followed, identified that last person in the room as Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America. Tony just snickered.
“Spider-man..?” Bruce asked, bringing Peter's attention back to the man. “Uh, i remember helping you guys out with that bad dude and then, nothing” He did not mention the first time he woke up, but someone seemed to have mercy on him and spared the question if he remembered that. At least for later.
“Okay..” The room turned silent for a moment, leaving Peter totally in the dark of what was going on. “Well, we were fighting, about to win, and then the bad guy must've hit you in the face with something, because you blacked out and we brought you here.”
That made sense. Peter remembered the bad guy having some sort of liquid on him, and he remembered feeling as if his head was on fire.
“Ok” He said, “and where exactly is here?” Logically he knew that he was at the tower, but he still needed the confirmation. Peter had been avoiding coming to the tower every time they had asked after fights. He couldn't risk them finding out who he was or anything like that. It didn't matter anymore though, they already knew.
“The avengers tower” Steve spoke up for the first time since his argument with Tony. “Now, since you're awake, we need you to tell us your name so that we can contact your parents” wow, no wait there then.
Tony made a noise peter could only explain as disappointment, “We agreed to wait with that capsicle, at least let the kid get checked out fully first”
“No, you agreed, the kid is obviously a kid and we need to let his parents know he's alive” The captain argued back. “So, son. What is your name?”
“And why exactly should I tell you?” He shot back, growing slightly frustrated. This was exactly what he was trying to avoid. He wanted nothing more in this moment than to run away and never have to see any of them again, but he was blind for one and that should be enough of an explanation on its own.
Captain America only sighed at this, “Look, kid. You’re like fourteen, and you should not be doing what you're doing. We need to tell your parents you're okay and you need to tell them that you are Spider-man too”
Peter scoffed “I am not a kid, and I'm not fourteen” He was getting more and more annoyed by the second. Who were they to kidnap him, take off his mask and demand to know his name. Screw them, they didn't get to come and make assumptions and call him a kid, they didn't know anything.
Steve did not seem to take no for an answer and kept pushing. “Look it's either you give us your name, or we will search you up and this will all be a lot harder than it has to” If he could see, peter would bet 20 bucks that steve looked like he did in those psa’s, he at least sounded like it.
Peter chose not to answer the captain, purely to be annoying really, because they would know his name as soon as they searched his face anyway.
“Okay if that's how you want it.” Cap said, sounding a little more annoyed than usual. “Tony run his face”
The room turned silent for a second before the defeated voice of tony stark sounded, (that is something you don't hear often) “Fri, run the kids face”
Peter glared in the man's general direction hoping he displayed a look of ‘what did i just say?’ No one said anything as Friday searched, which seemed to take longer than usual. Peter was like 110% sure that Friday would have found him by now after about two minutes.
Just as he was about to ask if the A.I was broken or something, Friday's voice echoed through the room. “I am sorry Boss, I can not find any matches on any of the databases.” Peter frowned at this, he was sure his school picture from last year would be easily accessible and probably lots of other things to identify him too.
“What?” Tony said, sounding just as confused as Peter felt. “What do you mean you can't find him, you can find everyone Fri?”
“I have no records of Spider-man’s face available, boss. I am sorry for the inconvenience.” It may have sounded crazy, but the A.I almost sounded happy about that, if not, like she was hiding something.
“What the…” Tony muttered after Friday was done, “You have any idea of why my totally awesome and all knowing A.I could not find your face, Spider-Man?” He said the last bit with a certain bite to it, as if the man suspected Peter was actually working for hydra or something.
“I guess your A.I isnt as smart as you thought, Stark” Peter bit out, making a quick reminder in his head to apologize to Friday later. That A.I. was awesome.
Tony gasped and probably held his hand to his heart in a wounded manner. Banner didn't say anything, but he kept checking Peter's head and eyes.
“Why can't Friday find him anywhere?” Cap said to Tony. “You think he's Hydra or something?” Peter scoffed, apparently a little too loudly as the captain shut up.
“I will let you know that I am not Hydra, nor do I know why Friday could not find my face.” He took the silence after as a sign to keep going. “Soo, I will just get on my merry way then, if nothing is terribly wrong or something.” He directed the last bit towards banners gray blob.
The man did not say anything so Peter started to get up from the bed, pulling out tubes from his arms as he swung his legs over the edge.
“Hold on” Stark said and Steve came to put his hand on his shoulder, but Peter shrugged it away. “We can't just let you leave. You're still blind, are you not? And a minor.” Steve's hand returned to Peter's shoulder, this time with a firmer grip than before.
“Tony's right son. We can't let you leave like this.” Peter groaned and used his hand this time to remove steves.
“I don't need you to let me do anything, and I am not your son.” He stood up as he said the last bit, glaring in Steve's general direction.
“Why can't you just tell us your parents names so that we can call them to get you? You're clearly in no condition to walk home by yourself”
“I don't think it would have made any difference if i told you their names, i hear graves don't exactly have much reception” Shit, what has Peter learned about thinking before talking? Clearly not enough.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room, Peter still half-glaring at what he hoped was steve. He was scared that he would have to break the silence again, cause lets be real, peter parker sucked at human interaction. When another voice broke it first.
“Fine” Stark said, “If you can walk, by yourself, out the door and to the elevator without walking into a wall, you can leave” Steve made some noise of complaint but stopped as soon as he started. “If not, you have to stay here until we either get your guardian to come get you, or your eyes work again and you are in condition to leave yourself”
“Okay, bet”
____
Peter did not win the bet. Actually, he took a total of ten steps before walking right into the room door. Another thing he should get better at, knowing when and when not to accept a bet.
He silently made his way back to the bed and sat down without anyone saying anything. Tony suppressed a laugh, “Well I guess you're staying here then! Wanna tell us your name now?” Peter didn't answer. “Well i guess not then, well be on the lookout for missing persons alerts then”
Peter scoffed at that, not meaning to, but he was getting tired and he had an awful headache and he was blind. “Wont find any.” He said, laying back down in the bed.
No one said anything, seemingly taking a hint for once. They all just muttered something about letting him sleep and sorry’s, scurrying out of the room.
“Hey banner?" Peter called just as he was about to leave. “Know if I'll be able to see again?” The man stopped. “I don't know for sure, but you have some pretty good healing so I'm counting on it.”
Banner then left, closing the door behind him. Peter laid there for a while, thinking over what had just happened until his eyelids felt heavier and he fell asleep again. Weird, he never fell asleep that fast. Guess he was just tired after the day and his injuries. Nothing else.