Pain Will Always Come Back to Haunt You

Broken

Bruce and Peter sit on the edge of the overly long, pleather couch as Bruce looks over his glasses to inspect Peter's heel. Peter is back in casual clothes with his mask still on and his suit on the seat next to me. It's been about a half hour since he got back to the Tower and he can't stop glancing back to the gaping hole in the wall that Toomes must have created.

"You alright, Peter?" Peter whips his head around to look at Bruce.

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, yeah I'm good. I'm not in any pain." Peter rolls his slightly sore ankle to prove his point. "See?"

"Rolling your ankle doesn't prove whether or not your heel is shattered. We're going to do an x-ray once we get back to your check-up," Bruce insists, feeling uncomfortable about the fact that he still doesn't know enough about Peter's healing factor. Peter's stomach starts to twist with anxiety. He doesn't want to be any more of a burden than he already is.

"It's really not a problem, Dr. Banner. I mean, I've been thrown through concrete walls and dragged behind a moving van and flown on the outside of a plane. This is nothing!" Peter tries to reason with him. Bruce looks anything but convinced, shocked if nothing else.

"Jeez kid, how old are you?" he asks in disbelief. Peter looks at his hands and nervously rubs them together.

"Sixteen," he mumbles. Bruce shakes his head and takes a deep breath.

"Tony, what were you thinking ?" he mutters.

"No no no! I agreed to it! It wasn't Mr. Stark's fault, I swear. It was my choice and I don't regret it." Bruce eyes Peter cautiously, but decides to drop the subject.

"I still want to do the x-ray," Bruce says as he removes his glasses. "Before that, we'll eat some lunch when Tony gets back." Peter lowers his foot so he can stand and stretch.

"Um, can I ask you something?" he inquires awkwardly.

"Of course." Bruce's full attention is back on Peter.

"How come you didn't Hulk out and help us? Not saying you weren't helpful! I'm sure you're always helpful, being a super genius doctor and all. Not that you aren't helpful as the Hulk too, I'm just saying in general, as in, like, y'know?" Great vocabulary, Peter. Why don't you ramble and annoy another genius. This is why they always treat you like a kid. Bruce smiles at Peter's nervous rambling, finding it endearing.

"Not a problem, I know what you mean. I figured out pretty quickly that the infiltrator, who you've told me calls himself 'Mysterio,' was using a hallucinogenic gas of some sort. Based on your...reactions, I decided it would be better for the Hulk to not be under the influence of said hallucinogens. If he hallucinated or believed in the illusions, he could have gone on a rampage." Peter nods his head in understanding, but something doesn't sit right about what Bruce said.

"What do you mean by my 'reactions?' I thought I acted pretty rationally considering the man who literally haunts my nightmares showed up out of thin air."

"Well...why don't we discuss that when Tony's here. In the meantime, you asked me a question so now I get to ask you one." Peter smirks and raises an eyebrow.

"I don't think I agreed to those terms," he challenges.

"Good thing I'm the one who gets to make the rules." Bruce genuinely smiles before continuing. "How come you still have the mask on?" Peter's heartbeat starts to pick up and he bites the inside of his lip.

"Well, um, y'see," he takes a deep breath to gather his thoughts "sometimes I get sensory overload and the mask helps to kinda tune things out. Light isn't as bright, sounds don't make my ears reverberate, smells aren't as harsh, stuff like that." He shrugs in an attempt to make it seem like it's not such a big deal. It really isn't a problem, just inconvenient at times. Bruce narrows his eyes in thought. "But, but it's probably fine now! I'll take it off," Peter assures him and slowly slips the mask off. The hole in the wall is causing more light to filter into the room than normal and Peter has to squint to allow his eyes time to adjust.