An-deaf Peter who gets assaulted while the Avengers are looking at their weapons upgrades (Signing in italics)

TW-Sexual assault, dissacociation

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"So who's the lucky guy doing our weapons?" Natasha drawled, twirling her new and improved blade changing knife around her fingers. The lab tech swallowed nervously and flicked through her notes.

"Peter Parker." She said nervously.

"No doctor or anything?" Clint asked. The intern shook her head.

"No, Peter used to be an intern because of a test that was sent to his school but he so ahead of everything in his department he got hired as a lab assistant then he worked his way up. He's been doing your weapons for a few months now." The intern said with a tight smile.

"How old?" Steve asked, testing the strap of his shield with an impressed look on his face.

"Fifteen." The intern said nervously.

"Fifteen? Jesus Christ. He did all the coding on this himself?" Tony asked, flicking through the new lines of coding in his suit. The intern nodded brightly.

"Of course. Peter does everything himself, coding, assembly, input. He's absolutely amazing to watch when he's in the zone. Literally nothing can get him out of it." The intern said excitedly. Tony hummed.

"Where is the little guy?" He asked. The intern glanced around, ducking her head into several cubicles then making a small dissappointed noise.

"He must have gone home early. He said something about a massive school project." She said in dismissal. Tony nodded, still clearly impressed. Clint cocked his head and raised his bow and arrow.

"What's he done to the colours?" He asked. The intern paused before picking up Peter's abandoned notepad full of notes. She found this odd, she'd been working with Peter for a very long time and he never left his notepad behind.

"Ah. Those are the colour changing ones. They reflect the light so they are easier seen. Peter's notes say that most archers can hear the arrow but because you're deaf you'll have trouble cocking the arrow and delivering the shot." The intern said, flipping the notepad so Clint could thumb through the notes.

"How did he know to do that?" He asked incredulously. The intern shifted slightly.

"Peter lost his hearing in an accident when he was still a kid. His ears were damaged and he can't be fitted for hearing aids or a cochlear implant. You should see the things he's made for himself to help." The intern said, her voice sounding slightly amazed and in awe. Clint nodded, looking through the sketches and notes for how he could further improve some of Clint's weapons.

"Isn't that Uh, isn't that dangerous? No offence but having a deaf person in a lab could be dangerous." Bucky said nervously, looking down at his arm which had been changed and several sender systems implemented. The intern shook her head.

"No never. Peter made a type of warning system that uses electromagnetic pulses on his arm that mean different things so that he knows what's going on. FRIDAY adores him and sends him alerts. Perfectly safe." She said with a smile. Tony was about to say something when Steve held up his hand, tapping Bucky and pointing to his own ears.

They both heard the same thing, a man whispering threats while a younger boy cried and whimpered uselessly. Steve waved the team behind him wordlessly, motioning for them to be completely silent. They weaved through empty labs and civic ales, circling around where Steve gestured to.

They were met with a vomit enducing sight; a middle-aged man holding a knife against the boys neck (one of Natasha's that she had noticed missing but assumed was being worked on) in his left hand and the other undoing a young boys belt and tugging down his pants until his knees. The boy's hands were balled into fists whole his head was thrown back so the knife wouldn't press in any further, blood already pooling under his neck.

The team worked easily, subduing the man easily and calling security to haul him off. The boy frantically pulled his pants back up and redid his belt, scooching back until his back hit the wall. All of the teams attempt to talk to him or get him to talk went unnoticed. His eyes leaking a constant stream of tears, unfocused and body frozen completely stiff.

"FRIDAY who is this and what's happening?" Tony asked frantically, crouched next to everyone else and staring at the boy.

"Peter Parker. Peter has gone into a dissociative state and will be unresponsive until his care plan is enacted." FRIDAY answered. Tony's eyes widened.

"Why has he dissociate?" He asked. Clint narrowed his eyes and tugged Peter's wrist towards himself, baring the silver bracelets on his wrist.

"PTSD. That's why." He said quietly. Tony nodded slowly.

"Alright FRI, get someone from medical down here and start enacting his care plan."

——————

They all watched through the window of the medical room as the nurse talked to Peter while disinfecting the cut of his neck, stitching it up and then covering it. Peter remained unresponsive, knuckles white as he clutched the bed, staring a hole in the floor and still crying. He was movable, way too easily, pliant.

"He was wearing Avengers boxers," Tony said suddenly, voice shaky and the hand covering his mouth muffling him.

"That normal for kids his ages Tony," Natasha said quietly. Tony shook his head.

"I know that. It's just, we make this big deal about saving people and we barely got to him. In my own damn tower. If we hadn't been there he would have had to live with that for the rest of his life." Tony rambled weakly.

"But we did get there. You can't think about the what if's." Steve said gently. Tony nodded slowly.

"I'm gonna make a new protocol. FRIDAY's going to monitor all movement and alert security when someone's being assaulted. And maybe we could patrol the city. You know, like vigilantes but not with being illegal." Tony rambled. Steve smiled slightly.

"We'll talk about it more later Tones." He said gently. Tony nodded just as the elevator door opened and out stepped a very frantic looking woman, clutching her purse and a backpack to her chest. She was wearing pyjamas.

"I'm May Parker. Peter Parker's guardian. I got a call saying he was assaulted, someone tried to rape him." She said frantically, not caring for who she was in the same room as. Tony shot up from his couch.

"Yes, he's right in here. We got to him before the man could do anything other than cut him. FRIDAY, my AI said something about him disassociating." Tony explained, pointing to Peter who was still being patched up. May deflated, looking through the window sadly.

"We thought he was better. That he stopped doing that." She said quietly, tears burning in her eyes. Clint cleared his throat.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did Peter disassociate?" He asked gently. May glanced at him, dumping her purse on the floor and holding the backpack tightly, eyeing the sign saying no one was allowed in for the time being.

"When Peter was little, just after he lost his hearing he couldn't be left alone at home because he could hurt himself. Not to mention he was eight. My late husband and I, his aunt and uncle, we had late shifts and needed a baby sitter. His name was Steven Wescott but everyone called him Skip. He molested Peter. Every time he babysitted him. Sometimes he'd make Peter touch him and such." May said in explanation. The team all visibly winced at the explanation.

"That explains the PTSD, but why did he not dissociate while it was happening? He was responsive until we got the man off of him." Natasha asked gently, placing a comforting hand on May's shoulder. May sighed.

"Peter said that afterwards was always the worst because Skip would call him a good boy and tell him how well he did. He didn't even understand what Skip was doing was wrong until we walked in and saw it happening. He thought he was the one in trouble for the longest time." May said, wiping away her tears frantically.

"When was he diagnosed?" Clint asked, placing a hand on Mayss other shoulder.

"When he was ten. It happened at school when another boy pulled his pants down as a joke. We spent months trying to find out what was wrong." May said quietly. They all nodded slowly. When the nurse came out May picked back up her purse frantically.

"His neck his patched up, I'll give you a sheet for aftercare, he's only slightly responsive. His care plan says you know what to do. We recommend he stay here for the night and we can set up a bed for you." She said, ushering May and the team into the room. May sighed, putting her purse down slowly, pulling a chair up so she could sit so he could see her and read her lips as she sighed pulling the backpack into her lap.

"It's May honey. Plain old aunt May. Bet you're overwhelmed with all of these new people." She said gently, taking one of Peters' clammy and limp hands in her own. Peter made a vague hummed noise in response. May sighed.

"Can you tell me your name honey?" She asked, signing along. Peter made another humming noise, raising his hands in the air and keeping them raised for a few minutes before he started signing.

"Peter B Parker." He signed slowly, blinking rapidly. May nodded encouragingly.

"That's right honey. Can you tell me how old you are?" May pressed. Peter's face twisted several times, blinking rapidly for several moments.

"Fifteen. Almost my birthday." Peter signed slowly. May grinned, visibly relaxing.

"Yeah. Two more months. What do you wanna do for your birthday?" May asked. The corner of Peter's mouth tugged upwards into a tiny smile.

"What we do every year." He said, his hands still slightly far away and eyes unfocused. May hummed.

"What do we do every year Peter?" May pressed. Peter shifted, blinking easily again.

"Invite Ned and MJ over, watch Star Wars and get as much pizza and garlic bread as possible." Peter signed. May was about to say something when Peter's head jerked, chin dipping to his chest then back up. His eyes were finally in focus, colour coming back to his skin and a confused look taking over his face.

"May? What's going on? Where are we?" Peter signed rapidly. May sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

"We're still in Stark Towers honey. Just in the medical sector." May explained slowly. Peter face twisted, narrowing his eyes.

"That doesn't make sense. I've never been up here before." He said, a small smug smile on his face. May smiled slightly, suddenly feeling impossibly tired and stressed.

"How much do you remember Peter?" She asked quietly. Peter's smile dropped, staring at her and suddenly realising why he was there.

"I disassociated didn't I?" He signed weakly. May nodded slowly, Peter sighing deeply.

"I was all excited cause my supervisor said we might get a visit from Tony Stark and the Avengers if they had time and I was really excited because I just finished the interchangeable knives." Peter paused, Clint and Natasha following his signing easily.

"Just before they came down everyone was rushing around and tidying up and Greg asked me to talk to him about something and he said it was really private so he led me away." Peter paused again, his eyes widening, eyebrows sweeping into his hairline.

"He-he tried to-to-to-" Peter started, hands shaking wildly as May slowly took them in her own and sighed.

"Do you want me to tell you now or later?" She asked. Peter shook his head slowly.

"Can I have a hug?" He signed eventually. May smiled softly.

"Of course. Pressure or no?" She asked. Peter held up one finger for pressure, May stood up and hugged him as tight as she could in her arms. Peter hummed loudly, closing his eyes and wrapping his own arms around May, humming again when May started swaying them slightly, running her fingers through his hair. They pulled back after several minutes and May pressed a kiss onto his forehead, watching Peter who made a face as his fingertips touched the gauze.

"You have to stay here for the night. I brought your pyjamas, the ones you like when you're having a bad day. And I brought Anakin the teddy bear." May said, kissing his forehead again and bending down to dig through the bag. The team smiled when Peter made a giggling noise, taking the things May handed to him.

"If only your brought StarWars." He teased. May snorted, swatting him playfully as the team closed the door with a soft click and left them alone. She swiftly helped him into his pyjamas and clambered I to the bed next to him.

"I love you Peter."

——————

Peter was nervous of course, he couldn't remember getting assaulted or seeing the Avengers because he was usually so out of it after May got him out. But apparently The Tony Stark was so impressed with his upgrades on the weapons that he wanted him to show him and the team how he did them. He jerked when FRIDAY sent the message that the doors were opening, stepping into the room easily. He blushed darkly when he found the entirely of the Avengers standing there.

He shifted nervously, holding his backpack straps tightly as they all smiled and waved at him, advancing on him and backing him step back a few steps. When they noticed this they all froze.

"You aren't gonna do what Greg tried to?" Peter signed shakily, his hands shaking. They all look horrified as Clint and Natasha translated. Peter looked between everyone speaking too fast for him to catch and then Clint waving for his attention.

"No. Never." He signed firmly. Peter narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at him.

"You promise?" He signed slowly.

"We promise."