Broken

chapter five

TW - mentions of sexual assault and self-harm

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Skip couldn't actually hurt his friends, could he? How would he get them anyway? It made Peter feel a little hopeful that he may have been bluffing.

The first thing he did before going home was get breakfast. As much as he wanted to be home, he was starving. He ate the whole thing within two minutes.

Then he went home. Was everyone worried about him? Probably. That's what he would've expected.

And to a certain extent, he was right. But Steve, Tony, and Clint looked more pissed.

"Where've you been?" Steve promptly asked as he stepped out of the elevator.

"You've been gone for two days, and you couldn't even text?" Tony adds on. "We've been worried sick."

Peter looked down. What was he supposed to say?

"You can't just leave like that and not tell anyone. If my kids did that, I don't know what I'd do. How would we know if you're safe or not?" Clint continued when Peter stayed silent, merely looking at them. The other Avengers and Harley were just watching, not nearly as pissed, but definitely upset.

"Seriously, did you think it was just okay to leave for two days?" Tony seemed to be the most upset, although a hint of worry shined in his eyes. "It doesn't matter if you're Spider-Man or not. You're still a kid and you could've gotten hurt. Or worse!

"We didn't know what happened or where you went. And it still wouldn't have been okay if you texted, but at least we would know you're okay!"

He wanted to scream that it wasn't his fault. He didn't want to leave for two days. He didn't have a choice. But he couldn't say that, so he just stood there and listened.

Steve and Clint also added a few things, but it was mostly Tony lecturing him. They must've been going for at least ten minutes now.

His eyes turned glassy and though he did his best to stop it, a tear slid down his cheek. He tried to wipe it away before anyone noticed but it was pointless. Almost instantly, they stopped the lecturing, which had turned more into yelling, and looked confused.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Peter mumbled before going to his room. He spent a lot of time there recently.

"You shouldn't have yelled at him." Natasha didn't look mad at them, but slightly annoyed.

"He left for two days, Nat. That's not okay," Tony said.

"Despite what you may think, it wasn't some sort of planned thing." At the blank, confused looks she got, she added, "Did you not see? He was wearing the same clothes as Friday. If he'd planned this, he would've brought more clothes. Or at least have come back to get more. His hair was all unkempt too."

Natasha walked out of the room leaving everyone to think on what she said. Loki left too, looking pissed off at having already noticed what she did. They knew there was more to it than Peter just leaving.

As always, Peter took a long shower. It had become a routine ever since he'd started meeting Skip. It never washed away how he felt though.

The warm water rolled down his back. He had a few small cuts and it stung a bit, but he didn't mind. It soothed his bruises and aching, tense muscles.

He used too much soap and spent too long scrubbing himself, so that all his skin ended up a light pink.

When he looked in the mirror, water dripped out of his hair and down his face. There was a dark bruise across his neck like a necklace. It matched the dark, bruised bracelets on his wrists. There were a few more bruises scattered around his body too, but luckily none on his face this time.