Wolf Spider

You're Safe

-Peter's P.O.V-

When Peter was five his parents got rougher with him. With the little memories Peter had, they were actually pretty nice. Parents that read him bedtime stories, and made warm soup when he was sick. Then they went to go give him some test that Peter now knew was to see if he was a mutant, and they changed. They dropped him off at school, and never let him out other then that, fed him once a day, and were sometimes more... violent than they had to be.

A month after the test, they shoved him into the car in the dead of night, and drove to the outskirts of town. They drove for what seemed like forever to five year old Peter. They drove silently, Peter paralyzed in fear. They finally stopped at a big warehouse, and even through all of his begging and cries, his parents threw him into the arms of a buff man. His struggling stopped when he felt something being inserted into his neck. The last thing he saw were his parents being handed money before he was forced into unconsciousness.

He awoke in a HYDRA cell, being awoken from ice-cold water.

Until he was six and a half he would dream of someone saving him. Dream of his parents changing their mind, and coming back. Of the superheroes in the books and movies coming to rescue him.

When he reached seven years old, he stopped dreaming like that. He grew to hate his parents with a passion, and stopped the dreams of being rescued by them.

Then, he met James.

James trained him, and when they were alone, talked to him. Made him giggle, and smile, and tell him stories when they both had bad days. Peter helped bring him back from the Winter Soldier, and nightmares. The first time Peter was wiped, a month after they met, James brought Peter back.

Not an ideal start to a friendship, but a powerful one.

When Peter turned eight, HYDRA found out that James and Peter became friends. James was sent out on a mission, and Peter was moved to a HYDRA facility in Madagascar. He was then wiped for the second time, and Peter forgot all about James.

At eight and a half, The Wolf Spider killed its first prey. He didn't know who it was, but he remembered the terror on their face, and the sound of them pleading for mercy through sobs. When he went back to HYDRA, and was put back in his cell, Peter had a nightmare. The memory of when his parents dropping him off ringing in his ears even when he woke up.

The hopes of someone rescuing him came back, and slowly faded until he was thirteen. When he was wiped once again, and the hopes disappeared. Dreams of people rescuing him became a new kind of torture, and overtime the pain Peter felt everytime he woke up from one of those dreams faded.

He became numb.

At fifteen, Peter's death total was thirty-four people. At fifteen, he was told to kill the Avengers and capture The Traitor.

At fifteen, Peter was rescued.

Of course, there are things in between all of the major events that shaped Peter into being the next Winter Soldier. Those were the things Peter would rather never visit again. He was sure that he probably didn't have all of his memories. As much as that pained him, he also wasn't sure if he wanted them back.

So when he woke up, out of pure instinct, he didn't open his eyes. He kept his breathing steady, and movements still. It was a dreamless sleep, so that told Peter he had passed out from exhaustion. The room smelled like artificial mountain breeze, and Peter could here breathing other then his own. He was covered with a weighted blanket, and-

Wait, a blanket?

Keeping his face as if he was sleeping, Peter tried to remember where he was. He couldn't be with HYDRA, they never gave him blankets, and the bed he was on was far more comfortable then what he was used to. The last time he was with HYDRA they had sent him to-

Oh. That's where he was. Peter remembered going to sleep, and having a night-terror. He remembered Steve and James having to talk him off of the ceiling, and when he had come back from the fear of the memory he had relieved in his dreams, he had been so exhausted he had collapsed.

Slowly, he opened his eyes only to immediately close them again because of how bright it was. "Peter?" A voice whispered from beside him, "You up, Kid?"

That was James, Peter could talk to James. "L-Lights," He whined (although he'd never admit to doing so), voice scratchy from the last time he woke up.

"FRIDAY?" James said. A moment later James told Peter, "You can open your eyes now."

Peter slowly opened his eyes once again. Relieved when he found that the lights were significantly lower now. "Thank you," He croaked.

James hummed, "No problem, Peter. Can you sit up?" Slowly, Peter did what James asked. He curled into a small ball, knees tucked into his chest, arms hugging his legs, and chin resting on his forearms. "Do you want some water?" James asked. Peter shook his head, he didn't feel like he could keep anything down. Nothing would probably get passed the knot in his throat.

He stared at the blanket that was now just covering his toes. He faintly noticed that his wrists were once again wrapped. James must have noticed the quick gaze to the bandages, so he explained, "You were scratching at them in your sleep."

That made sense to Peter, considering what his dream was about. He nodded his head slightly, and continued blankly staring at the blanket. It was a soft blue on one side, and a white on the other.

"Peter?" James asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

-Bucky's P.O.V-

"Peter?" Bucky asked softly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed when Peter just stared at his feet. He was faintly reminded of the few days after Peter was wiped for the first time, but for some reason this felt worse. It was probably because Peter was doing something as normal as sleeping, and was affected like this.

"Peter," Bucky gently said, "You can talk to me, Buddy."

Bucky watched the internal battle behind Peter's eyes. What was normally a blank, schooled look, was filled with dread. Bucky could tell the kid was fighting back the urge to talk, and just be a kid, but the years of not being able to freely talk were still there. It was something Bucky understood, and he knew that no matter how carefree they had tried to make yesterday, it was only a day. Peter wasn't going to just get better with a snap of someone's fingers.

"Peter, you're safe. You are not with HYDRA anymore-"

"But I am!" Peter exploded. "I am still there, every time I close my eyes, I'm back at that place, with those people- all alone! And- And I feel so stupid that I'm letting myself relax! Because I know that this is f-fake, and that I'm gon-gonna wake up s-soon, and be back there. All alo-alone..." Peter covered his mouth with his hands to muffle his sobs.

Bucky's heart broke, and he reached out to touch Peter's shoulder on instinct. When the kid flinched, Bucky cursed himself. "Peter, I'm about to hug you," He explained, and did just that.

Peter struggled for a second, and then just... deflated in Bucky's arms. He had the back of the older man's shirt in a death grip. His head tucked under Bucky's chin, as his body shuddered with his quiet sobs. Bucky ran his hand through his hair in a calming motion, as he held the small boy.

When Peter's sobs died down to tiny sniffles, he mumbled, "They never hug me in my dreams."

Bucky held Peter tighter, "This is real, Peter. You're safe. This is real."

Peter didn't say anything, and just continued to hold on to Bucky.