Silence

One

I feel the vibrations from the door and I get up from the dinner table, where I laid all my homework out. I softly walked to the door and opened it, my eyes widening when I see a few police officers. He starts to speak, but I can't hear anything. I hold up a finger and run to the table to get my hearing aids. I pop them in and wince as the feedback screeches in my ears. I walk back to the door and let the officers in. "Sorry about that, I didn't have my hearing aids in." I explained and showed them my ears. The officer smiles softly before putting his hand on my shoulder. "About an hour ago, we got a call of an accident outside the hospital." May. I knew right away that they were here because she had passed. "Did she suffer?" I whisper and the officer shakes his head. "The doctors said she was gone before the accident was even over." I swallowed past the lump in my throat and felt tears rise. "Ms. Parker has it that if something happens to her, you are to go to Mr. Stark. If you'd like to pack up some of your stuff, we can take you over there?"

I shook my head and reached for my phone. "I'll call him." I muttered and walked away from the officer, tears staining my cheeks before I could even get to my bedroom. I shut the door and quickly dialed my mentor's number. "Hey Pete." I put him on speaker phone and started to look for stuff to pack up. "Can you drop by please, it's urgent." My voice wavered and I could tell he is worried. "Of course, do you want me to bring anyone else? Pepper maybe?" I shook my head before realizing he couldn't see me. "Uh no...I don't want to make a scene. The media is sure to have picked this up already and the less they know the better." I muttered, not wanting my face plastered across every TV in the state. "Uh okay. I'll be there quick."

I had packed up half my clothes when someone knocked on my door. "Yeah!" I shouted, no emotion behind it. I felt numb. "Hey kid." Mr. Stark greeted and sat on my bed. "Why are there officers outside your building?" I hung my head and turned to him. "May is gone. There was an accident and the doctors said she was gone before the accident was over." Mr. Stark gasped and he stood up, pulling me into a hug. He knocked my ear and a screech of feedback made me wince. "I'll have Pepper get dinner started and once we finish up here, we'll go okay?" I nodded and he let me go to make the call.

It was four hours before we finished clearing out my room and I went through May's room to get everything I wanted from there. Mr. Stark, with the help of officers, lugged all my stuff to his car and when they were done, he came back to me. Mr. Stark swung his arm over my shoulder and walked us out of the apartment.

The car ride was silent, but we reached the compound in no time. "Happy! Have Steve help you get all this stuff out and show it to the kid's already made up room. If he questions, don't answer." Mr. Stark ordered and tossed the keys to Happy. The guard gave us both equally confused looks before muttering a 'yes sir.' Mr. Stark led me into the compound and to the kitchen. I still haven't spoken and I wasn't feeling too inclined to anyway. "Tony!" Pepper greeted and pulled the man in for a kiss. I looked away, not wanting to see them share an intimate moment. Pepper must've seen me because he cleared her throat and I looked at her again. "Pep, this is Peter. There was an agreement between his relative and I that if something happened, he would legally be mine." Pepper's eyed widened before saddneing. "I'm sorry about your loss Peter. Dinner is almost ready and I'm sure the other will be excited to see you." She gave a pointed look to Mr. Stark and he motioned for me to go sit on one of the stools at the bar.

People started to file into the kitchen and each one gave me odd looks. "Dinner!" Pepper announced and everyone piled to the table. Mr. Stark motioned to a chair and gave me an expectant look. I slowly got up and went over to him, my body feeling tired and I just wanted to take my hearing aids out. "Everyone, this is Peter. Following an accident today, I've been appointed as his new guardian. Welcome to the family Pete." He clapped me on the shoulder and I forced a smile. Another screech of feedback and I let my shoulders slump. I reached to my ears and slipped the old hearing aids out, my entire world being drowned in silence once again.

3rd person
"So Peter. What do you do for fun?" Steve asked and Peter didn't even acknowledge him. Tony nudged the boy and he looked up, his features shocked. He quickly formed motions with his hands and everyone looked at each confused, well everyone except Clint. "He's says he's sorry. His aids were hurting his ears and he didn't mean to ignore anyone." Clint translated and Tony's eyes widened. "He's deaf?" Natasha questioned, her face sad. "I...I didn't know he was deaf. All the times he's been with me, he's heard me just fine." Tony defended and the boy began to do the hand movements again. "Tony he asked if he could go to bed." Clint muttered and Tony nodded. Peter got up and scampered away from the table and no one missed the tears that had fallen down his cheeks.

Tony
Pepper grabbed my hand and I looked at her. "What happened?" She asked and I frowned. "Peter called and asked me to come over, said it was urgent. Which is why I ditched training." I looked at Steve and he nodded, letting me know I'm forgiven. "I got there and he told me his aunt was gone and that she had passed before the accident was even over. The officers told me her..." I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes. "Her body was split clean in half from the middle. She didn't even have a chance." Everyone gasped and I rubbed my forehead. "I...I couldn't tell the kid, I felt that he didn't deserve to know that, not then. He's in shock and he hasn't spoken since I got to his house."

"Tony that's so awful. Though I'm curious, how did you even get to know the kid?" Natasha asked, piquing everyone's interest. "I recruited him." I shrugged and Steve's eyes widened. "That's him? That's the kid you took to help you in Germany?" Sam groaned and put his head in his hands. "We threw a plane terminal at him!" Everyone on Cap's team started to protest and I held up my hands, quieting them. "Its in the past. I only ask that you guys treat him with respect. He just lost someone incredibly important to him and he deserves your respect."