Bruised But Not Broken - Irondad/spiderson

Here We Go Again

TW! 

A knock interrupted the silence in my room. After a long pause, another setback followed.

"Peter? It's Stark. Can I come in?" His voice echoed through the empty room. I quickly flushed the toilet and wiped under my eyes before approaching the door and opening it to reveal Mr Stark patiently waiting on the other side.

"Hey, Mr Stark," I greeted him, trying to sound casual.

"Hey, Peter. How are you holding up?" he asked, his expression softening.

"I'm okay," I replied, concealing my emotions.

"We're all here for you. Whatever you need, just let us know," he said, reassuringly touching my shoulder.

"Thanks, Mr Stark. That means a lot," I said, feeling a slight smile tug at the corners of my mouth.Mr Stark stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He looked around the room with only a bed and a few boxes.

 "So Peter, your Aunt texted me; she said she's more than happy to let you stay a few extra days because she picked up some extra shifts at the hospital; we could go work on some suits for our friend Spiderman. What do ya say?" Mr Stark spoke, breaking the silence

"Oh, uhm, sure, that sounds fun! I've been reading the books you left for me; I'm halfway through the mechanics of life," I mutter.

Mr Stark nodded in approval before reaching for the door to leave, "Perfect, Pete; how about tomorrow morning, eleven? My lab?"

"Okay!"

With that, Mr Stark left the room, filling it with cold, solid silence; I flopped down onto my bed and sent a message to May, thanking her for letting me stay and saying how much I missed her. The night ends with dismal thoughts filling my head, staring at the dark roof; what if I disappeared tomorrow?

Once I fell asleep, my body felt numb, and more overwhelming thoughts started crowding my head. I couldn't dream or think. My head was too loud for me to do anything. I can't handle this. The voices rattled on, harassing my sleep, calling me names and haunting me. The final straw was a voice resembling my own. " You aren't good enough", it snarled

" and you never. Will. be."

My eyes shot open, darting around the room; my phone lights up as I check the time, 3:56 AM. I can't hold back anymore. Raising my body hastily from the sheets, I stumbled through the bathroom door, locking it behind me. I knew exactly where they were. I don't know if this will stop the voices, but it's the only thing I can think of; I've never done anything like this before, but I will never be good enough; I need to punish myself.

Small red lines healed instantly, barely scratching the surface. First they dripped, then thinned and disapated like they were never there. Good. No one will know. The bitterly cold floor pressed into my legs, leaning against the door, letting all my emotions out. Finally, the dam broke, and a flood of tears poured out down my face. My lungs cried as a gasp for air like a fish out of water trying to slow the tears, but these emotions were dying to be felt. 

The white bathroom floor now had tiny drops of red swirling around in salty water, staining beautiful patterns around my curled figure. Hiccuping over my shaky breath, I started to make out images in these swirls: my mum's hair blowing in the wind or a small innocent bunny scratching its ears. The shapes merge and blur as my head slumps down to the floor.

The empty void sends my body spiralling down, and the impending reflex of hitting the ground grows with anticipation every second, spiralling down further and further. My body jolts awake as my head slides down and smakes the frozen tiles. The floor is vibrating, weird. I scrunch my hands into my eyes, rub the dried tears away, and clear my focus. , the muffled buzzing continues for a minute. Then silence. Turning my head, I reach for my phone resting on the bath mat to my right. 

The screen lights up, showing the snooze button. With realisation, I quickly swiped up and saw my phone had snoozed itself five times, and I was half an hour late for my meet-up with Mr Stark. Crap crap crap, I press my left hand on the wall behind me and push up with my legs steadying myself against the sink. Glancing up, I see the dark circles forming aggressively under my sunken eyes. Quickly wiping under my eyes, I rush into my makeshift room with the curtains drawn and a dim light peaking underneath them. 

I rush towards my door, grab a hoodie, throw it over my head, and stumble into the hallway. Racing towards Mr Stark's labs, I saw Dr Banner working with some other guys. The people I saw him working with earlier when I was recovering from flashes beat me down. Thinking about Flash only puts me in a worse mood.

I rush through Mr Starks door, where he's blasting ACDC tinkering on a project.

"Sorry, I'm late, Mr Stark. I overslept, sorry!" I blurt out.

Mr Stark pauses the music when I speak and gives me an unimpressed look. "Get started on your suit, kid; I played out most of the stuff you should need. Try and make yourself more bulletproof. K?"

"Okay, yeah"

Not to be on Mr Stark's bad side, I get straight to work on the suit and try not to get into Mr Stark's way. 

A few hours pass on this difficult task without a word from either of us. Mr Stark is hard at work on something new. He's sitting at his desk with a large screen in front of him, dragging different molecules to try and find the right fit. It looks like he's working on his reactor, maybe.  

coughing, I stand up and break the silence. 

"Mr Stark.. I need a Gamma tool... Do you think I could go and Ask Dr Bruce if I could borrow one?" I speak, cutting thin ice. 

Mr Stark lets out a big sigh dipping his glasses down to look at me. 

"Yeah, sure, kid, when you get back, let's get lunch and talk" 

I nodded in response and rushed out the door towards Dr Banner's lab. 

Upon walking up to the door, I noticed that Dr Banner wasn't in his room, just two lab workers from before. I took a deep breath and stepped in. 

Knocking on the side of the door both heads snap in my direction. 

"Is Dr Banner here? I just need to borrow a tool for my lab work." 

AN

Sorry for the long wait for a trash chapter; I'm busy with Uni assessments and will try and keep posting regularly!!

Thanks for the love and support

Yours truly - a ghostly cabbage