Silent Tears

Chapter Two

Peter's POV

Nikki looked nervous. She kept pulling her hoodie sleeves, over hands, trying to hide them. I was still wondering what was up with her one wrist, but I wasn't going to press. I knew what it was like to have secrets, and how annoying it could be to have people constantly begging to know. *cough* Ned, sorry buddy *cough*

"Y'know, no one here will judge you for pretty much anything. You don't have to hide," I tried to reassure her.

"I know, it's just...self-consciousness, I guess."

I couldn't say I blamed her. She looked like someone who clearly got a lot of unwanted attention, and who despised it. She just had that kind of look in her eyes and posture.

"So...you wanna see inside?" I asked her, changing the subject.

"Oh my gosh, yes please," she said enthusiastically.

I pushed open the door, scanned my keycard, and showed her to the elevator. She walked slowly behind me, taking in all the fancy tech stuff that was just kind of thrown...everywhere. She looked like she was super into all the programming, so she'd probably hit right off with pretty much everyone else.

"You coming?" I asked after a bit, and she finally tore her eyes away from the piece of technology she was studying.

"Oh. Yeah, sorry." She had a bit of a red tinge on her pale ears and cheeks as she hurried over.

We stepped into the elevator. I pressed a button, and we awkwardly waited for it to reach the fourteenth floor; where all the main...well, pretty much were all the living area things were.

After 20, maybe 30 seconds, the elevator dinged and opened up to a huge room. Tony was sitting on a couch on his laptop, staring intently at the screen, facing us.

"Hey Mr. Stark, I brought a friend, if that's okay." I called to him. He glanced up quickly and nodded, then went right back to whatever he was working on.

I gestured for Nikki to come with me to the massive pantry, and she walked quietly, as if she didn't want to make any noise and draw attention to herself. She was biting the inside of her lip and staring at the ground, as if nervous.

I was actually pretty shocked at how skilled she was at moving so silently; like she had practiced. Even with her foot brace thingy, she made almost not sound. The only noises I could hear were Mr. Stark typing away on his keyboard, and the distant sound of someone hitting a punching bag in the gym - probably Steve.

As her whole body came into view to Mr. Stark, he looked up for just a moment and saw her foot, and while his face didn't change expression, I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head. (They sounded very creaky and old, just in case you were wondering)

The Avengers hadn't had an assignment in a while, and we were kind of bored, so now Mr. Stark was probably going to come up with some plan to 'save' Nikki. Either that, or he was thinking really intently about what color to paint his bedroom or something.

"You want something to eat?" I asked her, as she looked at our huge variety of food - protein bars and shake mix for Steve, vegetables for Dr. Banner, fancy expensive stuff for Mr. Stark, casual, regular things for Clint, Natasha, and I, plus pretty much anything else you could think of.

"No, I'm good, thanks," she said, so quietly I could barely hear her.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself," and grabbed one of the little bags of chips from a box.

She followed me as I walked, slightly limping, though it wasn't pronounced. We just went into the next room over, which was empty of people.

I flopped onto a couch, allowing the soft cushions to envelop me. Nikki chose to sit on the floor, carefully lowering herself into a sitting position. I found it interesting, since it would probably be harder for her to get back up, but we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.