Safe and Sound

Chapter 8

“Small genius! I did not know you would be joining us for breakfast!” Thor’s voice is loud with excitement and I cover my head with my arms as the ringing gets louder. I wince and tuck my head between my knees, trying to block out the sound. 

Still I can hear Mr. Stark scolding him for being so loud, and trying to explain the situation. It hurts… I flinch away from the small hand that lands on my back, and I can feel my eyes welling as the throbbing keeps it’s steady pace. 

“If either of you two raise your voice above a whisper, I will personally throw you out that window.” Mr. Stark says softly. I don’t know who he’s talking to, but don’t chance looking up. Gods it hurts so much… this is fucking ridiculous.

Sure, I’ve hurt before. I’ve even had worse. But it’s in my head… The fact that it’s only gotten worse, despite my healing, is making me nervous. Even with my lack of food, it should have eased by now.

“Peter, can you hear me?” I recognize Mr. Banner’s voice, and nod. “I’m a doctor, Peter, will you look at me?” he asks. I raise my head a little, squinting as I look up at him. Even with the lights being dimmed as they are, it seems bright. My senses are acting up. I’m afraid I’ll have a sensory overload soon… that would suck so bad right now.

I flinch away as Mr. Banner reaches up to my face. He pauses but doesn’t say anything as he brushes my bangs out of my face. He studies my eyes for a moment.

“Did you hit your head recently?” he asks. I nod. “How hard? That cut doesn’t look too bad. Is that when the headache started?” he asks. I nod again. He shoots Mr. Stark a questioning glance.

“He’s mute. That’s why he has the pen and pad.” Mr. Stark nods to the notepad beside me.

“Here,” Mr. Banner hands them to me, “What happened?”

“I fell down the stairs, hit my head last night. There’s a ringing sound.” I write.

“I don’t like that. I also don’t know a whole lot about it. I want to get you some earbuds, and you can turn on something soft to help with loud noises.” he whispers. “I’m gonna do some looking and get back to you.” Mr. Banner stands, walks behind the couch, and drags Tony to the kitchen to better explain. 

I put my head back on my knees, laying the pen and pad beside me.

“So, you’re Peter?” I look up to see… Natasha Romanoff. She’s gorgeous! I nod. Clint Barton is standing beside her. I wave shyly. My hands are trembling. It’s too early for this.

“I am sorry, Peter. I didn’t know you were having problems with your hearing.” Thor whispers. I offer a small smile. It’s alright.

“It’s okay, Mr. Thor.” I show him. He chuckles.

“Just Thor is fine.” I nod.

“Hey, Clint, looks like you're not the only one here with ear issues.” Mrs. Romanoff sits in the other, huge chair, and Clint sits beside her.

“Guess not. What’d you do?” he asks me. I flip back to the page I showed Mr. Banner, and show it to them.

“Mute huh? Cool.” Mrs. Romanoff nods. I nod too, unsure of what to do. We sit in awkward silence for a moment before Mr. Start comes back, kneeling in front of me.

“Here kid,” he whispers, “These are bluetooth earbuds. Made them myself. They take calls, play music, and you can track them once they're connected to your phone in case you lose them. They also have a noise block setting. It doesn’t totally block it, because they're just earbuds, but it does a pretty good job.” he whispers.

I look down, head still throbbing as I write “Thank you, Mr. Stark!” I show him the page. He smiles, setting the ear buds in my lap. 

I pull out my old phone, seeing that I have a couple messages from May. I ignore them, instead going to my settings to connect to the ear buds. I pull up youtube, but Mr. Stark grimaces, taking my phone and toying with it. He wedges himself between Wade and I and I watch as he downloads and logs into Spotify, pulling up a smooth jazz playlist before handing my phone back to me.

“Much better than Youtube, when it comes to music.” 

“Thank you Mr. Stark, I really really appreciate it!” I write.

“Hey Peter?” I look up to see Clint talking to me. He starts making decided hand gestures as he talks. Sign Language. I sign back, as he asks if he can teach me American Sign Language with both his hands and voice, telling him that I already know. Everyone looks at me, eyes wide.

I tuck my feet under me, trying to look smaller. Trying to look more inconspicuous.

    *You speak ASL?* Mr. Barton asks. I nod.

    *When did you learn that?* Mrs. Natasha asks.

    *I lose my voice a lot, so my friend Ned and my girl MJ and I learned together.* I explain. I’m pretty sure I messed up a couple times because it’s been a while since I haven’t been able to talk. Well, to them I mean. I push play on the music and adjust the volume. It’s soft and helps dull the ringing.

    “So you can talk?” Natasha narrows her eyes.