It was a few weeks after Sam had picked Peter up from school, and Natasha couldn't help but notice something was off. She wasn't sure what it was- but it was something.
Black Widow stalked through the hall ways of the tower, searching for someone. Once she found him, she spoke.
"Clint. Now." Natasha snapped her fingers as she popped her head into the kitchen.
Clint spit his coffee out. He rushed out of the room, complaining, "Nat! What do you want? What are we doing? Answer me!"
Nat whirled around. "Its Peter. Something is going on. I don't know what, but believe me, I'm going to find out." Clint thought for a moment before nodding.
" Yeah, " He said, "maybe it's school?" Nat sighed before shrugging and telling Clint to keep his eyes out for anything suspicious. It would only take a few days before they figured it out.
Peter shrugged his backpack off of his shoulder a few days later to do his homework. After plopping down on the couch, taking out his bulky math book, and rummaging around for a pencil, Peter began. The minutes slowly ticked by and soon it was dinner time.
Steve walked into the kitchen. he looked over his shoulder at Peter and grinned. "Hey, Pete! How was school?"
Peter winced so slightly that only the super spy in the vents above Peter was able to see it. "It was alright, I mean we have a test on Friday for science but it's easy stuff. I Should ace it easily."
Steve nodded. "It's movie night tonight. Your turn to pick. Whole crew'll be here, except Vis and Wanda. Having a date night, I suppose. Any idea what you want to eat?"
Peter thought for a moment. "Anything other than spaghetti," He shuddered. "Chicken fingers, maybe?"easily
(Clint decided to ask Peter about that later. aka a story idea?)
After seeing that the chef was hard at work, Peter put away his homework. He had finished a while ago but didn't feel like getting bugged (cough cough Clint). Thinking for a moment, he said,"I wanna watch Harry Potter. Like, a full on marathon. That okay?"
A blond head popped up from the kitchen. "Yeah, we can arrange that. Friday? Alert the Avengers of protocol 'Get here now or no supper or movie.'" friday did so and soon the movies began.
Tony came to the movie marathon late. Like, an hour late. At least he brought popcorn.
He went over to Peter, who had no idea he was approaching. Tony put his hands on Peter's shoulders, startling him. "AHHHHHH!" Peter screeched, diving under the blankets and whimpering. He cowered by Natasha, his breathing quickening and voice hoarse.
Tony felt guilty. going over to Peter, he looked to see if he was alright. He wasn't.
Peter, in all his glory, was having a panic attack. He was shivering, crying, and his sniffles hurt the team. After showing Peter he was okay, Steve carried Peter to bed.
Clint looked up and caught Natasha's look. Why was Peter reacting so negatively toward physical touch? Now that they thought about it, Peter did shy away from touch and had been rather jumpy lately... What was going on?
Natasha Romanoff was a fighter. She was a real warrior. Yet she still suffered from nightmares. She never told anyone, save Clint, even though she knew it was common for heroes to have nightmares. Though really, she was surprised when she found out that the youngest on the team did too.
Nat was restless. It was her sixth night without sleep, not that anyone was counting. She was startled to say the least when Friday spoke up.
"Miss, Peter is in distress. Boss just got to sleep so I figured it was best not to wake him."
Already dashing to Peter's room, she told Friday that she really was intelligent.
Peter was tossing and turning, murmuring about a flash. Nat shook him awake, and Peter wouldn't meet her eyes. Stern, but also still kind, Natasha began to ask Peter questions.
"Peter, what were you dreaming about?"
Peter gazed at the floor like it was the sole thing that was worthy of his attention. after a bit he muttered, "Flash"
Natasha sighed. "Peter, you have to give me more than that. A flash of what?"
Peter burst. "Flash is a person. He's been beating me up, and I'm sick of it. I can't do anything or he'll know I'm spider-man. I dreamed... Well, anyway, Sam knows, and now you do, so it's not much of a secret. You can't tell anyone. Ok? Well, Clint. But that's it! You also can't beat him up or anything. Promise?"
Nat sighed. She didn't like that.
Peter pleaded, "Please, Nat, It isn't your secret to tell."
Reluctantly, Natasha agreed to keep the secret. At least for another week.
After that, no promises.
Peter got home the next day from school, bloody and shaken. His nose and lips were swollen. Everyone was a mission though. Everyone except Natasha.
Nat smiled softly, almost motherly. "Hey Pete. Need help? "
Looking up, the helpless boy just nodded. He was exhausted. Being beat up really took it out of him. He had just been lucky that Happy had been sick. He had to walk home, which ensured Tony didn't find out. He was also lucky that Tony didn't know Happy was sick.
Natasha, the fearless Black Widow, was helping a was doing a darn good job, too.
once Peter was cleaned up, they decided to watch a movie. They definitely didn't fall asleep. On each other. Friday definitely didn't snap pictures for black mail. Of course not. That would be ridiculous... Right?
Ahahahaha this was a fun one. Enjoying this story? Let me know! Also plz plz plz do the poll on my profile. The results will decide what I write next!