Hidden in Plain Sight // A Spiderfrost Fanfic

Chapter 57

3rd Person Tony POV

Tony pressed play.

In the video, Peter jumped up and angrily spun to accuse Loki. Loki barely moved. Calmly, he told Peter he could sense his thoughts. The fight  seemed to drain from Peter as Loki offered to help.

"Help with what?" Bruce puzzled aloud.

"Maybe with the reason he was so afraid to show his body and why he was reaching for the knife?"

We watched as Peter refused and Loki tried to convince him. Instead of replying, Peter just sat back down on the floor.  Loki sat in front of him and gently leaned forward, touching foreheads and obscuring Peter's expressions from view. There was a whisper, too quiet to make out and they separated.

They shared a few sappy words, but Tony was too startled to fake gag at them. He was about to turn of the screen, thinking it was over, but something Peter said made Tony pause.

He was asking if Loki tampered with his emotions. Tony wasn't even aware he could do that. A quick glance at Bruce told him that he didn't know either. The doctor wore a puzzled expression as he slowly ran his fingers through his hair.

Tony decided to watch a bit longer.

Peter asked Loki if he could heal him instead of Bruce. Loki immediately agreed. He offered a hand to Peter and led him into the bathroom, where we lost connection.

Bruce turned to look at me. "I expected you to have cameras in the bathroom."

Tony mimed shock. "I don't want to sort through hours of my friends' nakedness. I wouldn't invade someone's privacy like that."

"You're watching something extremely personal between Loki and Peter."

Tony pursed his lips and avoided Bruce's piercing gaze.

He sighed. "Pull up the clip Tony."

Tony grumbled to himself and switched the frame to inside the bathroom.

After a gesture from Loki, Peter hopped up onto the counter. Loki reached for the hem of the shirt. Panic crossed Peter's face, but he didn't resist. Tony looked away and Bruce nudged him.

"Watch."

Tony groaned and forced himself to look back at the screen. He was more impervious to the scars that littered Peter's body, along with the unmistakable bold, black tattoo and numerous bandages, but that didn't stop him from cringing anyway.

Digital Peter asked about pain, Loki in turn assured him there would be no pain. Bruce and Tony leaned forward in awe as Loki started his procedure. Loki's hands glowed with power and he began easily taking off each bandage, one by one, as if each one wasn't even sticking to the skin. Peter didn't flinch, but he had his eyes nervously screwed shut and part of Tony wondered if he had even felt it.

Bruce gasped softly as Loki started on the first wound. The sealed skin, held together by stitches, was an angry red, but the color receded as soon as it came in contact with Loki's hands. He started at the end of the gash. Each stitch that he touched became filled with light and Loki could easily take them out. Once finished, he ran his fingers over the injury again and it vanished into a scar.

Loki began fixing the other wound and Bruce leaned back.

"That's incredible," He muttered. Turning to Tony, he pointed at the screen. "The other nearby cuts are healing too."

Tony's eyes widened and examined the footage more closely. He realized it was true.

"That's enough, FRIDAY. Thanks," Tony called.

The footage vanished from the screen.

Bruce turned to Tony. "What?"

"I figure that we saw enough, whatever happened was probably really personal. Plus they're gross and sappy."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Of course."

The two of them sat in quiet silence, slowly processing what they just saw. Tony closed the screen and placed it on the table with a clack.

"We're not telling the others."

Bruce agreed quietly. He felt guilty just watching the couple, it wasn't his secret to tell.

Realization dawned on him. "What about Peter's near self-harm? Clearly he had done it before. Are we just going to leave it?"

"Yes. When he feels ready, he'll ask for help or tell us. Until then we just have to be as supportive as possible. Despite how much I dislike Loki, he cares about Peter and I trust him. I just hope Peter lets us in and accepts my adoption offer."

Bruce wheeled on him, shocked. "You offered to adopt him?"

Tony gave him an incredulous look. "He has no where to go. He can't just live here without an official guardian because he'll get put in the foster care system."

Bruce leaned forward to catch Tony's mumbling.

"Plus, as much as I hate to admit, he's grown on me. He's my kid."

The doctor leaned back, a small smile on his face. "Agreed."

"Well now that you're here," Tony began, pulling the screen back out. "I could use your opinions on some designs that I've been working on for some new tech pieces."

A grin lit up Bruce's face. "Of course! Let me take a look."

An hour later of friendly arguments and adjustments, the pair of scientists we're ready to take a break. They hadn't seen anyone out of their rooms yet, and neither were ready to be by themselves after witnessing the video feed.

"I'm hungry," Tony complained, stretching his arms.

Bruce put the screen away. "Me too, let's make something in the kitchen."

Tony smirked, yanking his phone free of its pocket. "Or we could order pizza?"

"Haven't we already had it this week?"

"What, you're tired of pizza?" Tony taunted.

Bruce fell silent. "Just dial the number."

Tony pumped his fist into the air, mumbling victories to himself as he punched in the number he knew by heart. Bruce pulled out his own phone, scrolling down a long list of orders from previous meals. He recited the list and Tony repeated them into the receiver.

With food on the way, neither of them felt like going back to work. They decided to watch a movie instead.

"Animated or live action?" Tony asked, scrolling down the list of movies they had on the TV.

"Animated," Was Bruce's short reply back.

"Classic Disney or something else?"

"Something else."

Tony hovered over an icon. "What about this?"

"The Lego Batman Movie?" Bruce snorted.

"Hey! Do not scorn stop motion animation!"

"Fine, fine. Let's try it out."

Tony pressed play, but soon had to pause the movie to pick up the pizza from downstairs. When he got back, he set the tall stack of pizzas on the table and alerted the others through FRIDAY. Bruce and Tony got their portions of food and settled back into the couch, resuming the movie.