Glazed Eyes, Empty Hearts ➳ Spideypool

6➳The Quiet

Growing distance from your explanations
We're getting deeper in this mess
Take careful contemplation
I'd rather be spitting blood
Than have this silence fuck me up

*

When I come to, I'm in the all too familiar medbay at the tower. The regret is instant. Overwhelming.

I shouldn't have called. I shouldn't have asked for help. Jason's going to be pissed if he finds out. I should've been more careful, especially now that I've dragged Gwen into this mess. Jason could find Gwen. He could hurt her. He could kill her if that's what he wanted to do.

That's not going to happen on my watch. No matter what.

I'd rather be spitting blood, black and blue, with broken bones, than have Gwen get dragged into this. I'd rather die than have Gwen feel as helpless as I do.

Tony walks in a moment later with one of his tentative smiles, coffee mug in hand.

"Hey, kiddo. I was worried about you for a second there. Wanna tell me what happened?" he says, a knowing look in his eyes.

I'm already tugging the needle out of my arm, knowing I've already healed well enough to leave.

"Nothing. Just took a couple hits on patrol. I would've probably been fine without your help," I say, sounding a bit too hostile for my liking.

"Sure," Tony says, rolling his eyes. "I showed up at your apartment and you were passed out on your bedroom floor in your suit. What if Jason had showed up before me? He doesn't know about Spider-Man, does he?"

"No... But he said he'd be out all night. He wasn't supposed to be coming back until I had left for school. He wasn't going to see me even if I hadn't called you," I say, frowning as I push back the sheets. I'm in a pair of SI sweatpants that interns get and an MIT alumni hoodie.

"Yeah. You're clothes were pretty bloodstained. You can keep those... Listen, kid. That was more than a couple hits on patrol. Bruce said you had old wounds, lots of old wounds on your body. And I looked at your patrol logs from Karen... You had overrided the system so it said you had been on patrol even though you hadn't been. Kid, if anything's going on, you can talk to me?" Tony explains, sipping on his coffee and fidgeting with his fingers.

"Nothing's going on. Stop stalking me," I mutter.

I miss the old me. The person who would joke and smile and laugh and have such a bright personality. The happy go lucky kid. Not me. I've grown up crazy fast and become distant, sad.

"I'm not... I'm not stalking you, kid. I'm worried," Tony sighs, finally looking up at me, eyes tracing a path over the bruise on my jaw. "You're a damn good liar, surprisingly, so I didn't think much of any of it at first... But I have a guess for what's going on and I really, really hope I'm wrong."

"You probably are wrong. It's nothing. I swear. Just lay off, okay? I'll talk to you if it gets worse, alright?" I say, keeping an impassive look on my face and determination behind my eyes. "Just leave me alone. Let me deal with it."

"Kid... I've been letting you deal with it alone for months. I don't know when this started, but it's been a long time. I feel like I need to step in. You obviously can't deal with it by yourself if it's still going on. I had to take you to the hospital, Pete. This isn't okay," Tony says, watching my movements carefully.

"I'm fine, Mister Stark... Please just drop it. Gwen's already on my case about this... Just- Please let it go."

Tony sighs again and runs his hands over his face. "Fine... Fine. Just swear to me that you'll at least let me help. Call me if you need medical attention or backup or just an extra lab night. Just... Don't make yourself go through whatever this is by yourself. You've got a heck of a lot of people on your side."