Trigger warning: Panic attack and self-hating talk

(Bruce Banner POV)

This morning, Felix had come into class early. I had taken up a teaching job at Midtown Tech at Tony's request, who wanted a new intern, but required, and I quote: 'Somebody who actually has brains and a good nature.'

This had made me pay more attention to Felix, a lanky teenager who had the awful habit of stuttering and rambling and mostly tried to keep to himself. This was, however, not what had caught my attention. What had caught my attention, was how he acted towards others.

You could often find him helping out someone whose school books had fallen, he was always kind to the staff and always ready to help anyone study for an exam. He didn't show a lot of emotion on his face, in fact, it was normally devoid of any emotion, much like my girlfriend Natasha. Guarded and careful, Natasha had told me those were the signs of either abuse, or a smart kid who knew about stranger danger. Yeah, really helpful, Natasha.

Now, the kid had finally rambled a bit too much and admitted the truth: he didn't have parents and was taking care of his younger brother - Ham, I believe. I turned to Felix, trying to keep my emotions in check: 'That's not normal.' I said softly.

Lix's eyes grew ten times in size, and he started to hyperventilated, grabbing at his head.

'Felix, buddy, are you okay?' I asked, but instead of answering, he crashed to the floor. I stood rooted in place: I had seen this so often, usually with Bucky, Natasha or Tony, it was a panic attack. Why was this kid having a panic attack, was it what I said.

I softly slid to the ground, carefully taking the teenager in my arms, whispering soft words to him, running a hand through his hair. He was now crying. Felix Smith was crying. Felix Smith I am a robot who never shows any emotions, was crying.

'It's okay, it's okay.' I breathed, stroking his hair out of his face. Slowly his rapid breathing started to slow, and the tears stopped coming, he quickly wiped them away with his sleeve, then looked up at me guiltily:

'I'm sorry.' he mumbled softly, ruffling up his hair then looking up again, not a single sign on his face that he had just had a panic attack. His eyes were slightly red, but if you didn't know he had been crying, you wouldn't notice either. He had once again put on an impenetrable mask.

'It's okay Lix, it happens to the best of us.' I added with a chuckle, 'Though normally I see superheroes having panic attacks and not 16-year-old students.'

He looked up at me in confusion: 'What?' he asked.

'Well you know I'm the Hulk, right?' I asked with a forced chuckle, watching his expression, but like always it didn't change.

He chuckled forcefully, and even I noticed that he didn't know how to chuckle: 'Yeah, yeah, sorry forgot.' he said with a shrug, trying to avoid the subject. I raised my eyebrows: this kid hadn't known, he didn't know I was the Hulk. How was that possible? Under which rock had he been hiding for the past few years?

'Right.' I said with a nod, trying to shield my suspicion. What was up with this kid? He was so smart but didn't know about the Hulk, maybe he just wasn't interested in superheroes? That would be a first.

I heard the clamour of students coming closer and Peter quickly jumped up, back to his normal stuttering self: 'A-a-about the homework sir, I am really...' I cut him off before he could apologise again:

'Kid, it's fine, do it during the lesson okay? Then I'll check it.' he nodded soflty, 'Lix,' I began with a sigh. He looked up at me, his hazel eyes searching mine, as if evaluating and predicting what I was going to say: 'I'm going to call CPS.' I stated.

'What?!' he asked, his face as monotone as ever, only the small crack in his voice giving him away.

'Kid, you shouldn't be taking care of your younger brother, you should have someone taking care of you. You're only 16, you're not old enough. When school is out, I'll call them, we can go pick up your brother, then we'll get you into a foster home.'

His eyes flickered slightly, was that fear? Or something else? Honestly, Natasha was easier to read than him! And she had been in the red room! Wait... she had been in the red room, yet this kid was more guarded by her. He had had a panic attack when I mentioned something wasn'tnormal.Could he? No, right? There was no way he had been in Hydra. He was so young. No, I decided, that was just paranoid me talking, this kid just had it rough. After all: I went over his history with Tony, I was actually supposed to ask him today if he wanted to work at SI. I knew all his history, if he had been kidnapped by Hydra, there would have been areas with no information on him, but all his life was filled in. I was just being paranoid.

Meanwhile, the kid nodded slightly: 'Alright mister Banner sir.' he half whispered, his voice barely audible. I nodded and gave him a smile:

'It'll be okay Lix.' I assured him, turning my head as students started to file into the room. The second I turned around again, Lix was in his seat. I briefly wondered how this kid was this fast, then my attention was drawn as Flash "Eugene" Thompson came in, loudly talking about a kid he had just bullied.

I mentally made a note to give him detention, then focused my attention to the blackboard, starting the lesson, occasionally glancing back at Felix, who was furiously scribbling away at his homework, finishing the questions as quickly as one would solve 2 2. The kid was a genius, too bad he had gone through what he had gone through, whatever that might be.

(Peter POV)

I was writing away at his homework furiously, not even having to think about the answers. Perks of being a genius I guess.

My brain was going a million miles per hour:

I couldn't go into foster care

I was a monster

I was a robot

Everyone I met died

Everyone I met and died died because of me

What if Hydra found me?

All they had to do was say the words and I would be a killing machine again.

I would kill my foster family

I would kill Ham

Ham

Ham deserved better than me

He deserved someone who was safe to hang out with

He deserved a family

What I to offer him: a lousy apartment and burnt pancakes.

I was the worst brother alive

I was a monster

I sighed as I finished the homework, flipping the paper around and starting to doodle, trying to get rid of the thoughts in my head.Murderer, dangerous, evil, bad, useless.I tried to calm my erratic breathing as Mister Banner looked up at me.

I drew a spider. Ironic how the thing I was most scared of: those superpowers I had got: I could cling to walls, shoot webs from my wrists, had super hearing, a sixth sense for danger, superstrength and -speed.

Then, an idea hit me: what if I made it up to the world. What if I undid the harm I had done under Hydra's control? Tony Stark turned his life around as well. He now was married and had a daughter named Morgan. He was a superhero. He was now a good guy. He was a bad guy once as well, right? Not like me, but still bad.

Couldn't I be like him? Save people, and then maybe, just maybe, I could forgive myself. I smiled internally at the thought, and started sketching a suit: after all, superheroes needed a suit.

I made it red, though with only a pencil, I just shaded it in and acted like it was red. I added a spider emblem in the middle. Should I add tech in it? I could make an AI assistant and add that in. Nanotech! That way I could hop into my suit anytime, anywhere. After all, making nanotech from stuff you find in dumpsters was pretty easy, you just had to be lucky to find the right stuff.

The bell run and I hurried over to collect my new homework and give Mister Banner my freshly finished homework.

He glanced at it and smiled proudly: 'Nice job Lix!' he praised me, then flipped it over and chuckled at the drawings on the back. 'New superhero in town is there?' he stated more than asked, 'Never took you for a fanboy Lix.' he joked, looking up at me.

I shrugged: 'He saved my life yesterday.' Mister Banner's eyes twinkled, hope coming into it:

'Is he the kind that looks out for the little guy?' he asked. I nodded, officially, from now on he was. Mister Banner smiled: 'Good, we need people like that. The avengers is all fun and games, but there also need to be people doing the ordinary day to day stuff. What's his name?'

'Huh?'

'The superhero's name?'

'Guess.'

'Spiderling? Oooohh...ooooh... SPIDERMAN!' Mister Banner cried excitedly and I nodded, officially, since now, it was spiderman. He smiled at me: 'Remember to come here after last period okay bud?' I nodded solemnly, he put his hand on my shoulder: 'Hey, I know it's hard right now and that you're scared, but it's going to be okay alright?' I nodded, just wanting to get out of this conversation as soon as possible. He nodded and I was free to go.

As I walked out of the classroom, I decided: I wasn't going into foster care. I couldn't. I couldn't risk it. I would get Ham a good home and then just live on the streets somewhere, making sure to check in on him.

I raced down the hallway as the bell sounded.It's going to be okay alright?I heard his voice in my mind.

Yeah right, as if anything would ever be okay again.