Believer

5. Crying

"Crying doesn't mean you're weak, it means you've been strong for too long."

Even though it was nearly midnight, Peter didn't feel the slightest bit tired. He figured he would pay for it in the morning, but still he couldn't stop himself from swinging around in his suit. Bucky, Sam and Scott put metal and wooden beams on the ceiling, hanging down like uniform stalagmites. They were perfect for Peter to test out his powers on, swinging and clinging and climbing and flipping - it was almost too much. His new suit was perfect as well. It had all the flexibility of his old one, with an added layer of protection and awesomeness. He noticed with pleasure that Tony had moved Karen into his new suit so he didn't lose his AI.

Peter also noticed the added shock absorbers when Ant-Man knocked him from the ceiling onto the floor below. He barely felt it! Peter had instantly bounced to his feet, swearing revenge against the tiny hero, and scaling the wall back to the beams.

Peter now stood on the end of one of the beams, hanging by his feet completely upside down. "You're crazy; isn't the blood rushing to your head?" Falcon called up to his with a scoff. "Yeah, but it makes for faster thinking!" Peter called back.

"Don't stay up too late, kid." Bucky commanded, Ant-Man returning to Scott-size beside him. The trio left, probably going to sleep. "What time is it, Karen?" Peter asked. "12: 01, Peter." Karen responded dutifully and Peter shrugged. "I have half an hour to spare!" He decided, setting his curfew to 12: 30 without advice from any of the other Avengers.

"Are you sure that's wise, Peter? Your body is already registering high levels of fatigue." Karen told him, and Peter shrugged. "I'll be fine, I've pulled all nighters before when I was way more tired."

"Yes, but your body is showing strange nervous system activity." Peter groaned at Karen's astute observation. He had been dreading this build up for over a week. Lack of sleep combined with an offset eating schedule and new, strange surroundings usually led to this. Peter hated it, every. Time.

"Should I report these results to Mr. Stark? You're health may be in jeprody." (yeah no idea how to spell that, moving on) Karen insisted. "No, I'll be fine." Peter said hastily. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad one, he decided. He could totally hide it, having it happen so many times. How hard would it be?

Peter launched to the next beam, before getting his first taste of the state of mind he would suffer from for the next week. He could only be thankful it was silent around him, otherwise it would've been much worse. As it was, his suit tried desperately to compensate for his sudden heightened vision as everything slowed down to painfully accurate observations. He could feel every molocule of dust from the ceiling grating against his lungs as he breathed. He was hyperaware of every sense, sending a searing pain into his head that shuddered through his limbs.

Tensing instinctively, Peter closed his eyes and curled into a ball. He was unaware he was falling until he crashed into the floor hard on his shoulder. He let out a muffled scream at the motion and impact. Thanks to his suit, he shouldn't have felt pain at all, but because of his sensory overload, the slightest prick of pain became a knife twisting into his nerves.

The impact centered on his shoulder felt like a force strong enough to shatter every bone in his side.

"Peter?" Karen called anxiously as Peter writhed on the floor. He finally managed to reign in his senses, thanks to the empty and dim-lit training room. He ripped off his mask, silencing his confused AI, and sucked in deep breaths while trying to stop shaking.

He was going to be ok. There was nothing wrong with him.

Peter's vision couldn't focus, and he was forced to close his eyes again. He had been wrong; this was a bad one. Maybe the worst he'd ever had. Even in a room where there was hardly anything to bother his senses, every sense wracked his body with waves of pain. There was no way he was going to be able to hide this from the Avengers; for long.

Deep breaths. Calm down.

Finally, Peter's senses came under his control. He swallowed heavily and blinked back tears he hadn't known had collected in his eyes. He was still shaking beyond his control, making it hard to stand or do much after he'd gotten to his feet. Peter finally managed to make it to the empty, dark hallway, thankful that none of the Avengers were awake.

Passing Scott's room, Peter was assaulted by the man's snoring. It felt like it was shaking him, and Peter was knocked to his knees.

Focus, focus!

Getting up, Peter forced himself to walk forwards, shoving down the swell of his senses. He finally made it to his room, where he eased himself onto his bed. It had gotten so bad now that even without his mask on, Peter could hear Karen from his suit.

"Karen... please..." he groaned, voice thick with pain. "I am sorry Peter, but you must get looked over by a doctor. You are in pain!" She told him; as if he didn't know. "Karen... I've dealt with sensory overload... before. On... my own. I'll be fine." He remembered the first time sensory overload had hit him like a brick. He had been at school, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. He was just starting to experiment with his powers, and no one knew he was Spiderman. He couldn't go to anyone for help.

He'd spent the rest of the day in the janitor's closet, the only place people never came, trying not to pass out from the stench of cleaning products. He had eventually lost consciousness, waking up hours after school ended. Explaining that to his Aunt, who had been yelling, had been an excersise in pain management.

Now, Peter pressed the button on his suit that retracted it, leaving him with the bundle of metallic-weaved fabric. He pulled it off, tossing it to the side, and laid on his bed in his skivvies. He was so hot, burning really. However, the cold air brought no comfort. If anything, it made it worse. Everything made it worse.

Peter would've taken crashing through a skyscraper window and then being thrown onto his back 100x over before he would subject himself to this.

That's enough fluff for you!

Nah, there'll be more fluff. But I like drama that leads to fluff, soooooo poor Peter.

Have any of you guys ever experienced sensory overload? I suffer from minor hyperesthesia - which is what Peter's powers caused him to have, its a heightening of your senses - and I have only had sensory overload once because, like I said, I have a minor case of it. I had forgotten my earbuds that day at school and, let me just tell you, I spent the whole day curled up in the janitor's closet. That story of Peter's first experience with sensory overload was mine because I'm very creative, as you can all probably tell.

Anyways, it really sucks, and the movie hinted really strongly that Peter has had sensory overload before. SO I WANTED TO MAKE HIM SUFFEEEEERRRR.

Yeah, I'm mean.

~Meow