Broken Hero || Peter Parker X Reader

Peter Is Sad

there's a trigger warning in this chapter(i'll let you know when). these warnings are usually linked with guns and/or death
~~~

The next day at the library, the team studied while Mr. Harrington and I sat at a table away from the club, reading our own books. Except I wasn't actually reading and had hid my phone inside the book so it looked like I was doing something predictive, when really I was just playing Candy Crush.

I glanced over at Peter every once in awhile, obviously. He sat alone, keeping his distance from the team. There was a book in his hands but I could tell he wasn't studying and instead was spacing out. I wanted to go over to him and ask if he was okay, but I knew I couldn't in that moment.

There was one time where he eventually caught my stare. I gave him a little wave and he just gave me a little half smile before staring down at his book once again and pretended to read it. Something was bothering him and I wish I knew what it was.

After about two long of hours of Candy Crush later, Mr. Harrington finally set us free into the city to do whatever we wanted. We just had to be back at the hotel by six o'clock for one more team meeting before bed.

Ned, Michele, Peter, some girl named Jen(I think she's Ned's friend from Spanish), and I went off on our own. I suggested we go to brunch and everyone happily agreed. Except for Peter, who didn't have a preference and just nodded along, not saying anything.

Every time I try making eye contact with him, he quickly looks away and pretends not to notice, staring at the ground instead. At brunch, we all talked and joked around, but Peter remained quiet and only answered the waiter when he asked him what he wanted to eat.

After that, we went to a public museum and Peter had kept to himself and again. There was one point where we were all scattered around one room at the museum, all of us looking at different things. I hated museums and thought they were boring as all hell, so I decided to use this time as an opportunity to talk to Peter alone.

I found him not even looking at anything in the museum, instead he was gazing out the window, in obvious deep thought. "Peter?" I ask gently, slowly inching towards him.

He turns around at his name being called and his eyes meet mine. "Yeah?" He asks softly, and it's the most I've heard out of him all day.

I move to stand close to him, slipping my hand into his and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You okay?" Peter bites his lip and nods, quickly looking back out the window so he didn't have to look at me. "No you're not, don't lie to me."

Peter glances back at me, obvious pain in his eyes. He hesitates, looking back and forth between me and the window. "Hey, guys!" Ned comes running up behind us, interrupting our conversation. "I was looking for you."

I turn to Ned and give him a small smile. "We've been here."

"Alright, it's five thirty, so we should be getting back to the hotel." He informs us, glancing down at his watch.

"Alright." I nod in agreement. "Let's go find Michele and Jen."

~~~

I followed Ned and Peter back up to their room after the final team meeting. Peter had walked into the room first so I held Ned back in the hall so I could talk to him alone. "Can you give us a sec? Peter and I."

Ned nods vigorously. "Yeah, definitely... he's been acting strange all day."

I sigh, nodding. "I know... You can go to my room, I'm sure Michele is down in the cafeteria stealing candy bars or something."

Ned laughs at that. "Okay, thanks." And he turns to head for my room as I walk into his and Peter's room.

Peter sits on his bed and stares down at something on his phone. I close the door behind me and lean against it, waiting for him to do something, say anything.