Capítulo 11: Chapter 11
Tony and Peter fell into a steady routine after that. They would text each other, mostly Tony asking about school and when Peter would like to see him again, and Peter asking about some of the projects Tony was working on.
Peter had had dinner with Tony and Pepper six more times over the next few weeks. And he was practically at the house almost every day after school and at weekends hanging out with his dad. It was great. Peter was having fun hanging out with him. And Pepper was so friendly. It was almost perfect.
Almost.
If it wasn't for this nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he was around Tony, or he thought about him as his dad. Like a warning that none of this was real, and he didn't deserve it.
Then there was the gifts.
One afternoon after school, Peter came home to boxes of Lego sets. Large expensive sets, with a note from Tony suggesting they could build them together. Then in his bedroom, there was a state of the art computer and laptop, a new phone, and a miniature lab set up. All from Tony, insisting it was for schoolwork.
Peter tries to object that it really wasn't necessary. But Tony insistent and said he couldn't return any of it. So Peter was forced to keep it all. And he felt like a cheat every time he used any of it. The only reason he had it was because he was Tony's son, if he wasn't, Tony would never have got him any of this. It felt like a bribe. Like Tony was paying him to hang out with him. And it was so expensive.
It was driving Peter crazy trying to think about what it meant, and whether he deserved it or not.
He'd had many sleepless nights lately. And when he did finally sleep, he had nightmares either about his parents dying and leaving him. Or Tony being his dad, but then abandoning him for his new real family with Pepper. They all ended the same way though. Him alone.
May could tell something was bothering him, and she's tried to ask him a few times. But how could Peter tell her how he was feeling? She'd probably just tell Tony and then Tony would want to talk about it, and there was no way Peter was going to talk to Tony about this.
Especially the way he was feeling at the moment.
He'd had a headache the last few days. And it wasn't any ordinary headache. They were these pounding headaches he got right before he had a Sensory Overload. It was the only downside of his powers. On rare occasions this happened. He'd wake up with a pounding headache which would only get worse as the day went on, and all his other senses went into overdrive. He would hear things from miles away that were so loud it felt like his ear drums were going to explode. He could smell and taste everything around him to the point he just wanted to throw up. Everything around him became so bright his eyes would sting so bad it felt like they were on fire. And his own skin became so sensitive, the slightest touch felt like hundreds of bees were stinging him all over.
Most days it happened it wasn't so bad. It was mostly just everything being so loud, and he felt sick all day. But he managed to use his noise cancelling headphones to block most it out at school, and by the next day he was back to normal. May knew about the headaches, he had to tell her on the days it happened when he was at home. But that's all she thought they were. If he told her the truth she would just worry. And there was no way he'd tell Tony.
Besides they weren't that bad. He was able to push through it.
Until today.
Peter knew as soon as he woke up it was going to be a bad day. His head was already pounding so hard, he actually thought for a moment there was drilling going on in his apartment. And the sirens, the car horns and shouting outside was so loud, Peter pulled the cover over his head blocking his ears as he waited for the moment to pass.
But it didn't.
The sounds only got louder.
Then there was the smell of burning coming from the kitchen. It actually made Peter retch. He could practically taste it.
"Ughh.." Peter groaned closing his eyes just wanting to disappear. He felt so tired, his limbs feeling heavy. And all the hairs on his body stuck up, becoming so sensitive it felt like his clothes were scratching him.
"Peter! Breakfast!" May shouted from the kitchen making Peter flinch and snap his hands over his ears wincing at the sheer volume. It's like she was shouting right into his ears.
There was no way he could eat anything the way his stomach was going over.
"Honey? You're going to be late for school if you don't get up soon."
Peter knew the right thing to do would be to tell May he wasn't feeling well and to stay home. But she had to work, and if he told her she'd want to stay with him. That or tell Tony who would want to check on him. And it may just pass. All the other times it eventually passed.
So Peter took a deep breath and forced himself to get up.
Unfortunately, as soon as he got out of bed, it was like the whole room swayed and he soon found the floor was rushing up to meet him.
Thanks to his quick reflexes he lashed his hand out, grabbing onto the wall quickly and he stumbled into his bedside table.
"Peter? What was that? You ok?"
His vision cleared and he rubbed his forehead quickly turning towards the door; "Yeah May I'm fine. I just...tripped." Peter said quickly, not wanting May to come in and see him.
"Ok well I gotta go to work. Happy's going to come pick you up and take you to school."
"Ok thanks May!" Peter called out, and waited for the sound of the door closing before letting out a shaky sigh. It was then he noticed he was shaking.
This was going to be a long day...
0o0o0o0o0-SPIDERMAN-0o0o0oo
"Dude you look terrible."
"Thanks Ned." Peter muttered, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt further down his face, whilst pushing the sunglasses further up his face as they walked through the corridor. He'd thought by the time he got to school, the Sensory Overlord might have eased off a bit. But it had only gotten worse.
As soon as he left the house, everything just got a whole lot worse. It felt like the whole world was screaming at him, and everything was so bright. Even the sunglasses and headphones he had on weren't helping like they used to.
"I'm serious. You're so pale you look like a ghost, and you're shaking man." Ned looked at him sideways with an alarmed expression; "Are you sick or something?"
"No it's just..." Peter paused as a group of people passed; "Just one of my headaches...you know."
Ned frowned, before it clicked; "Oh you mean your senses?" Ned finished in a hushed whisper. Ned knew about his Sensory Overload, he found out when Peter was having a bad day at school.
Peter just nodded keeping his head down, finding the lights in school were just as blinding as outside. Then he flinched as someone slammed their locker door, and it was like Peter felt the ricochet throughout his body.
Ned glanced at him worriedly; "How bad is it today?"
After the few times Peter had the Sensory Overload at school, he and Ned had decided on a number scale to rate how bad the pain was, to see if it got worse over time. 1 being just mild pain, like a normal headache, and 10 being 'I feel like I'm going to pass out' kinda pain. Usually Peter found it was about a 5 or a 6 what with the nausea. But today...
"16.5." Peter grumbled rubbing his forehead trying to ease the constant throbbing.
Ned's eyes widened; "But..if it's that bad what are you even doing here? School is like the worst place to be when your senses are in overdrive."
Peter paused, Ned had a point; "I'm just kidding." Peter lied; "It's not that bad."
"Really?"
The bell went to alert them to go to class, and Peter groaned grabbing his head as he stumbled into a row of lockers. The ringing so loud he was frozen in pain, just waiting for it to stop.
"Woah Peter. Are you ok?" Ned rushed over, casting looks around as people eyed Peter when they headed to class.
"M'fine." Peter said through gritted teeth when the bell finally stopped, but the ringing was still ringing in his head. He took a step towards class, when he swayed back into the lockers again.
"No you're not." Ned said grabbing his arm to steady him; "You should go home."
"No I'm fine." Peter took a deep breath to steady himself and set off towards class, leaning against the wall; "I can't go home every time this happens. Besides we've got an Algebra test next week."
"And we both know you're already going to ace the test without being here." Ned looked around seeing the hallway was emptying as everyone headed to class; "Why don't you just call May to pick you up?"
"She doesn't know." Peter sighed; "She thinks they're still just headaches."
"What? You didn't tell her?"
"I didn't want her to worry. And if I told her that's all she'd do. She'd probably stop me going to school altogether."
"Well then call your dad."
Peter faltered and glanced at Ned, who paused; "You didn't tell him either? Dude!"
"What! He'd only worry too. And he'll probably try to fix it. And it can't be fixed."
"But Peter..."
"Mr Leeds! Mr Parker! Get to class!" A teacher shouted from down the hall, and Ned and Peter froze before Peter grabbed Ned and dragged him to class.
It was Chemistry first. Usually one of Peter's favourite subjects.
But as Peter sat down as his lab desk this time, the smell of the different solutions was unbearable. Peter had to cover his mouth to stop from throwing up. Then there was the noise. All the other students whispering sounded like shouting, and the screeching coming from the teacher writing on the chalk board with chalk was like knives in his skull.
"Mr Parker!"
Peter whimpered.
"Are we outside? No. So take the sunglasses off please!"
Oh please no.
There was snickering and whispering about him.
"Erm Mr Scott I..." Peter started.
"Do you want detention? Take them off now."
"But Mr Scott Peter..." Ned objected.
"Do both of you want detention?" The teacher huffed, and Peter's skin crawled feeling all the stares on him.
Finally, Peter sighed realising he had no choice, and he slowly pulled the glasses off keeping his head low. He tried to keep his eyes closed to prepare himself, but as he reopened them after he took the glasses off, he was instantly bombarded with blinding light that had him flinching and snapping them shut again.
"What's the matter Penis Parker! You some kind of vampire!" Flash shouted.
"Enough Flash!" Scott scolded and then looked at Peter.
"The hood and earphones too Mr Parker. Now."
Slowly, Peter pushed his hood down and pulled his earphones out.
"Thank you Mr Parker. Now as I was saying..."
The rest of what he was saying Peter didn't hear. Not with the scratching of everyone writing in their books, the tapping of student's secretly texting, the squeaking of chairs moving becoming so loud it felt like his head was going to split open.
Peter put his elbows on the desk, covering his ears as he kept his eyes shut, just waiting for it all to pass. It usually did. It got super loud, then died down. But not this time. Everything just got louder and louder.
Peter snapped his hand down to grab the edge of the desk, gripping on so hard his knuckles turned white, just trying to push through the pain.
Ned sent Peter a concerned glance, and then glanced down horrified at the cracking sound. Soon cracks started to emerge in the wooden desk forming under Peter's hand.
"Peter!" Ned hissed trying to warn him. If he broke the desk that could expose him.
Ned's whispers sounded like shouting, and Peter immediately snapped his eyes open pulling his hand back, startled at the cracks.
"Peter you need to go home!" Ned whispered.
Peter couldn't even think straight to form a coherent reply, and he just shook his head. That was a big mistake. The movement caused his eyes to reopen and a sharp pain erupted around his eyes. His vision blurred and everything became amplified.
Soon he was hearing things coming from across the school. The band instruments playing in music class were thumping in his ears, and the smell of food coming from the kitchen was so strong, Peter went to take a breath to make it stop and it was a big mistake. As soon as he opened his mouth it was like he could taste everything all at once.
Peter retched. This time he just knew. He couldn't stop it.
Pushing away from the desk, Peter turned and bolted from class.
"Oooo cry baby's going to throw up!" Flash jeered as Peter shoved the door open so hard it slammed into a desk knocking it over.
"Alright that's enough. Everyone just focus." The teacher called out raising his hands; "Let's just give Mr Parker a moment."
Ned waited for everyone's attention to shift, before he slowly snuck out of class going after Peter.
Peter fled straight to the men's room, and threw up everything in his stomach. Then he fell back against the wall of the stall clutching his head.
He couldn't stay still and he jumped up.
"Peter!" Ned burst into the men's room as Peter rushed to the sinks; "Dude are you ok?"
"T'sooo loud!" Peter shouted pushing the heel of his hand against his forehead as the pain behind his eyes got sharper.
Then he slammed both his hands down on the sink counter and clutched on tight. Cracks started to appear in the counter, and the sinks cracked in half and water started exploding out everywhere.
Peter stumbled backwards and fell against one of the toilet stalls doors cracking it.
Ned covered his head backing away in shock. Then he looked at Peter; "Dude!" Then he stopped looking concerned at Peter; "Peter?"
Peter was trembling as he was grabbing his head. The was pain unbearable. Like nothing he'd ever felt before. He could hear everything. Every voice in the whole school. Every person outside, every car sound. It felt like his head was about to crack open. He couldn't think. Couldn't speak. Couldn't move.
"Peter?" Ned walked over and crouched down beside him. He reached out to touch Peter's shoulder.
Peter flinched away, the smell of Ned's clothes and toothpaste, the sound of his breathing, was so overwhelming Peter couldn't take it. He shoved Ned aside and bolted from the men's room.
He wanted it all to stop. And there was only one place where he could go where the sounds went quiet.
"Peter!" Ned said chasing after him.
Everything was so bright, Peter had to keep his eyes shut. So blindly, Peter ran through the hallway and straight for the familiar utility closet, using his memory and senses to guide him. He fell against the wall and ran his hand along it until he found the handle. He grabbed it wrenching it open, squashing the metal handle, and he practically threw himself inside slamming the door shut with such force it cracked the frame and wall all around it and wedged the door shut.
"Peter!" Ned ran to the closet door and tried to open the door, but the handle was bent out of shape and the door was at a funny angle, seemed to be sealed shut against the cracked wall. Ned looked at it in terror and he looked around terrified someone would see. This was bad. Very bad.
Peter stumbled inside the closet, falling against a metal shelf full of supplies, knocking it over before he fell backwards against the wall. Peter used it to ground him, his body numb and covered in pins and needles. His back against the wall, he slid to the floor. He brought his knees up resting his head against them as he pulled his hood up and covered his head, his whole body trembling and shaking.
The utility closet was the only place that blocked most of the sound he was hearing. It was the steel beams in the ceiling that helped. Except today. His senses were so far past overdrive, that even in here the sounds weren't being blocked. The floor was even vibrating from all the sounds in the school.
He just wanted it to stop.
And in that moment, he just wanted his dad.
Estado de energía semanal
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