All the other interns had left for the night when it hit 6pm. But Peter had begged to stay for ten more minutes to finish the part he was working on. So now it was just him and Dr. Williamson left in the lab.
Peter quickly finished up the part he was working on, he didn't want to be a burden by making Dr. Williamson stay any later than he had too. When he finished, he quickly thanked the man for letting him stay later and made his way to the lobby once more.
It was winter, so it was already dark outside. The cool wind made Peter pull his hood over his head to try and protect himself from the cold.
Peter waved goodbye to the receptionist and made his way out of the building. Though it was only 6pm, there was almost no one around. Which was strange, normally there would still be people walking around when he left the tower. Hell, even when he started to walk towards his less legal job there were still people walking around.
But now, there was no one. No sounds of chatter or people walking around, just the occasional car driving past. It was a little unsettling.
The hair on the back of his neck started to stand up, his head was buzzing with a dull ache. Peter couldn't tell if it was from the headache he had started to get back in the lab or a warning from his spider-sense. Peter sincerely hoped it was the former, not the latter.
Keeping his ears out in case he heard anything, Peter began to cautiously walk home. He barely made it 5 steps before his head stung with the feeling of a warning. He didn't have time to concentrate on what the danger was or where it was coming from before someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a dark alleyway.
Peter senses all started to yell at once. Telling him to get out of the alley and away from the people, to fight back. But he didn't, for the first time since becoming Spider-Man, he froze. He was stuck in his place in the group, looking up at his attackers.
He didn't recognise most of them, except for one.
Peter should have known, who else but Flash Thompson would attack him in civilian clothes. Spider-Man, Peter could understand. Spider-Man was a symbol and a chance for villains to make a name for themselves. But Peter was just Peter.
"You," Flash said, his voice low and gravely. The four other people with Flash started to crowd him, pushing him into the back corner of the alley, "You're the reason we didn't get the internship."
Ok, factually incorrect, the education system was the reason Flash didn't have the knowledge to get in but Peter wasn't about to bring that up. Even if he did, it wouldn't change anything. Flash always seemed to create a reality in his brain where everything was Peter's fault. After years of torment he had grown used to it. Apparently Flash was the same in every universe.
"We deserve the internship, not you. You are nothing. I've never even heard of you. We come from wealthy families and we are smarter than you. We should have the internship." Flash growled, punctuating his speech with a kick to Peter's ribs.
Peter let out a groan at the sudden impact. He brought his arms to wrap around himself, trying to protect from further impact on his now bruised ribs.
"Give me your internship, and I'll stop," Flash spoke, making the blackmail sound like nothing more than a business deal. Though Peter supposed that it was to him.
"No," Peter forced out. He had worked hard to get it, he wasn't going to give it up just because of a little bit of pain. This was about more than keeping an internship, it was about spite.
This was no doubt not the answer Flash had been looking for. He looked at his goons, his eyes filled with a burning anger, and nodded. That's when the kicks began.
One after another, different people landed kicks on Peter's malnourished body.
One.
Two.
Four.
Eight–
After that Peter lost count, too focused on the pain to keep track of the damage.
After one person landed a hit to his face, causing his lip to split and his nose to start to bleed, Peter buried his head into his hands to protect them. His bruised ribs suddenly forgotten, Peter tried to curl in on himself.
In theory, he should fight back. He had super strength, he could protect himself, he wasn't helpless anymore. But he didn't. He couldn't risk hurting anyone by overusing his strength by accident in a time of crisis. Even if they were hurting him he had no reason to hurt them back. That would make him just like them. Peter's strength was a weapon he still didn't have complete control over, he couldn't risk someone getting hurt because of his own inability.
So instead, he braved the pain and hoped his attackers got bored soon, doing his best to protect his head and neck from impacts.
It hurts, oh god it hurts. Peter tried not to think about it, that perhaps if he thought about something else he could distract himself from the pain. But every thought was soon consumed by the burning ache of his body and the harsh words being yelled at him.
"You deserve this!"
"Moron!"
"You don't deserve the internship!"
"The internship should be ours!"
"You are nothing!"
Peter didn't know how long it had been, too focused on protecting himself, but soon Peter heard the sound of footsteps approaching the alleyway. For a fleeting moment Peter thought they were going to keep walking and leave him here, or perhaps that they hadn't seen him. Until the sounds of footsteps stopped.
Suddenly, a voice Peter had heard before but couldn't quite remember called out:
"Hey! What's going on down there!"
Peter almost cried from joy when the voice caused his attackers to stop. But only then did Peter realise how much his body hurt. His whole body stung, but mostly his ribs.
"Go, go, get out of here. Quick!" Flash harshly whispers to his goons. He started to push them toward the exit of the alleyway so he could get out faster. Also tripping on a piece of rubbish, Flash scurried away from Peter.
The man who scared them off didn't try to stop them, but yelled at them to "pick on someone their own size" as they ran away to escape punishment for their deed.
The man in question rushed over to Peter, whose eyes had shut from a sudden wave of tiredness. The stranger started to check him for obvious injuries. Upon realising Peter had closed his eyes, he gently tapped Peter's cheek with his hand.
"No, no. You gotta stay awake kid. Hey, hey, it's okay they're gone. Open your eyes, look at me. C'mon that's it," the voice encouraged, cradling the back of Peter's head with a gloved hand.
Eventually, Peter opened his eyes, the light blinded him momentarily causing him to quickly shut his eyes again. But after some encouragement from the man, Peter fully opened his eyes. That's when he realised who had saved him. He couldn't believe he hadn't recognised the voice when he first heard it.
Cradling his injured body, was Bucky Barnes. Dress in a leather jacket with a grey hoodie underneath. He wore a glove on his left hand, for obvious reasons. His hair was tied back so it was out of his face. He looked nothing like Peter had ever seen him, but it was inexplicably Bucky.
It was only now that Peter realised that he had never seen or met Bucky outside of a fight. Germany and Thanos had been the only times he had even seen the man. And let's just say they didn't really have time to get introduced then. But none of that mattered now, Peter supposed.
"What's your name kid?" He asked.
"Peter."
Bucky looked over Peter's malnourished, beaten body with eyes filled with concern. He seemed to finished scanning Peter's injuries as he spoke:
"Kid, you're not lookin' good. We need to get you to a hospital—or a doctor or something."
No. Peter couldn't go to a doctor. There were too many things they could figure out. They could find out he didn't have a family and was living in the streets—which would be quite the complication. They would call CPS, who would in turn throw him into the foster care system.
They could find out he was a mutant. The Accords didn't exist yet, so Peter didn't have that to worry about, but he still couldn't risk anyone finding out about his abilities.
"No doctors, please," Peter spoke, as loudly as he could. But his throat hurt and it came out just above a whisper. But Bucky seemed to hear him anyway, thank God for advanced hearing.
"Kid, you're hurt. You need help," Bucky tried once more.
Peter simply shook his head, not trusting his vocal cords not to shatter as he spoke. Bucky sighed, thinking for a moment before asking:
"Ok, no doctors. I get it. But I can't just leave you here. I have an apartment nearby, would you be ok if you took you there to patch you up?"
Of all the things Bucky could have said, Peter didn't expect him to say that. Not that he expected Bucky to leave him behind. But Peter supposed it was better than being sent to a hospital. He trusted Bucky, they had barely ever met in his world, but he trusted him.
Peter nodded, and Bucky seemed to release tension in his shoulders Peter hadn't noticed before. He was relieved Peter was letting him help him.
"Ok, good," Bucky said. "It's barely a 3 minute walk, will you be ok? I'll help you."
Peter scrunched up his eyes and Bucky carefully lifted him from the ground. He was careful not to let out any groans, in fear of Bucky thinking he was accidentally hurting him. Besides, Peter was a superhero, he should be able to take a punch.
The two slowly made their way to Bucky's apartment. The flight of stairs was the hardest. Peter leaned heavily onto Bucky for support, who in turn held onto him, carefully helping him up the stairs.
Eventually they were standing at Bucky's door. The man fumbled with his keys before sliding them into the keyhole and opening it.
The apartment itself was small, but cozy. Looking around it only had a bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen. But the ambience more than made up for the small space. The apartment reminded Peter of his apartment with May.
It felt lived in, and loved. Like a little escape from a cold world outside. It made a small smile appear on Peter's face.
Bucky took Peter over to his couch, carefully placing him down. Peter sunk into the comfortable cushions. Though he himself had a couch at his "home" it was old and uncomfortable, while Bucky's felt like a little cloud.
"You stay here, I'll go get some stuff to fix you up," Bucky told him before disappearing into the bathroom and quickly emerging with a bag of what Peter assumed was medical supplies in a small red box.
Bucky came to kneel next to him, checking over his injuries once more. Taking a wet cloth he had gotten, Bucky started to wash away the blood that had started to dry on his face. He was careful not to hurt Peter any more as he dabbed away the blood.
"Your nose doesn't look broken, that's good. But I think you might have some broken ribs. I'm going to patch up some of your cuts then I'll have a look at them," Bucky spoke calmly, placing down the wet cloth and picking up some band aids and bandages.
As Bucky started to apply the first-aid to Peter, someone knocked on the door. Both Peter and Bucky's head snapped to look at the door. Unsure of who was there until:
"Bucky, it's me. I thought you were gonna stay at the tower tonight? I want to make sure you're ok, can I come in?" Steve asked from outside the door.
Bucky looked at Peter, as if to ask if it was ok to let him in. Peter nodded and Bucky stood up to let him in. As Steve entered, he started to talk.
"Hey, Buck. I just wanted to make sure you're ok, you said you were going to come back and you didn't so I– Peter?"
Steve looked startled as he finally noticed Peter, bruised and battered, sitting on the couch.
"You know each other?" Bucky asked, closing the door behind Steve.
"Yes"
"No"
Steve and Peter replied at the same time.
Maybe agreeing to go to Bucky's apartment wasn't a good idea after all. Steve was going to worry, maybe he would even go against his wishes and send him to a hospital. Oh no.
"Shit, Peter are you ok? Who did this to you?" Steve questioned, moving over to kneel beside Peter with Bucky on his heels.
"Nobody, it doesn't matter, just some stupid kid," Peter answered, trying to play it off. He didn't need anyone's pity.
"More like kids, there were about 5 guys beating the shit out of you," Bucky corrected, which only seemed to make Steve's worry intensify. "Wait, how do you two know each other?"
"I bought him lunch the other day and that cafe you told me about," Steve answered for Peter while he looked him over for injuries. The two men started to talk about what had happened, his injuries and whether or not they should call a doctor. Peter, who had started to doze off, was brought back to reality when Steve mentioned a doctor.
"No doctor," he said with all the confidence he could muster. The two looked at him with sad eyes, for some reason Peter couldn't place what the sadness was about.
"Pete, you're hurt," Steve said.
"I'll heal."
"This isn't some paper cut."
"I heal fast, don't worry."
"Peter."
"I'm fine."
Steve signed, rubbing his eyes with his hand. Him and Bucky seemed to have a silent conversation as Bucky cleaned the last of his wounds. There was silence for a few minutes, though it wasn't uncomfortable. Peter was just glad they were giving him time to gather his thoughts before they asked what happened.
"Shit, kid you should call your parents to let them know what happened, maybe they can come and get you," Bucky realised as he was packing up the medical supplies and putting them down on the kitchen desk.
Peter would love to call someone, to let them know what happened, but Peter didn't have anyone worth telling. He normally would call May, Ned, or even Mr. Stark if it was really bad. But now he had no one.
"No, it's fine," he assured, the two gave him unsure looks "No really, ah– my parents are in another city for the weekend for a wedding. There is no point in calling them."
The lie slipped easily out of his mouth as he tried to reassure the super soldiers. But they still seemed uncertain.
"You should stay for the night then. If you're hurt you shouldn't be home alone. Are you sure they wouldn't want you to call them?" Bucky questioned, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke.
"Positive," Peter confirmed, his voice going high at the end.
The two seemed to finally give up and turned the conversation towards other topics. Steve and Bucky sat down on either side of Peter on the couch, careful not to move Peter as they sat down.
Bucky started to flip through channels to find something to watch. When Big Bang Theory came on both him and Peter cheered, Steve seemed to be ok with it though not as excited as the others. Every now and then, one of the super soldiers would look over at Peter, as if to check he was still there and still breathing.
An hour or two passed with the group mindless watching TV before Steve realised the time. Standing up from his spot he said:
"I should get going, I'm about to miss team dinner. See you tomorrow Buck. Pete, the offer still stands, you need me, call me."
The two waved him off as he made his way out of the apartment and began walking towards the tower. Only then did Bucky have a realisation.
"I should feed you, shouldn't I? It's dinner time. Let's order something. Pizza okay with you?" Bucky asked as he stood up and reached for his phone from the kitchen counter.
"Oh, no sir. You don't have to buy me dinner. You're already letting me stay, I don't want to be a burden–" Peter rushed to say. But Bucky quickly moved to reassure him.
"Kid, I'm getting dinner and you're staying in my house. I'm not going to not get you anything. And you're not a burden," He added as he began to put in a pizza place's number.
"Thank you, sir," Peter said with a genuine smile, which Bucky returned.
"You really want to thank me? You can drop the sir," Bucky jokingly said.
Half an hour later, the pizza arrived. One for Peter and two for Bucky and his super-metabolism. They talked about everything and nothing, that the food tasted good, the show they were watching when the food arrived. But halfway through the dinner Bucky brought the conversation back to the reason Peter was here in the first place.
"Why were those kids beating you up anyway? You seem like a quiet kid, you don't look like the type to start any fights," Bucky pointed out, putting down his slice of pizza as he spoke. In turn, so did Peter who decided honestly was the best policy.
"I just got an internship at SI on Wednesday, they also tried to get it but they didn't. I guess they got mad at me for getting in when they didn't," Peter tried not to let his voice shake as he spoke.
"That's messed up," Bucky said, Peter had to agree. Seeing how uncomfortable Peter was talking about it, Bucky dropped the topic and started asking him about what he was doing at SI. Peter lit up as he began to talk happily about the change of subject.
Eventually, as the hour passed the two went to bed. Peter had been set up with some pillows and a fluffy blanket on the couch after straight up refusing to take Bucky's bed.
As Peter closed his eyes, he realised for the first time in a while he wasn't afraid of falling asleep. For the first time in a while, he felt like he was at home.