Chapter Text
"what the fuck!" ned yelled as he saw peter, his best friend, enter his room with a red and blue hoodie, with goggles and a very badly made mask.
peter instantly dropped to the floor as he recognised his friend's voice. "ned! what are you doing in my room!" he asked as he hurriedly tried to change out of his clothing.
"you- you were on the ceiling... you're that spider-guy! from youtube..." ned trailed off as he continued staring with excitement.
"no, no, i wasn't... ned, what are you doing in my room?" the young spiderman asked as he put on some sweatpants and a science pun t-shirt.
"i made the base for the lego death star!" he announced as he pointed to the floor where legos littered the floor. "dude, you never let me come round anymore! and what is with your room? you said you had posters everywhere and you had a massive bed to yourself. you don't have posters and you have about 3 bunkbeds in here with a mattress on the floor! this doesn't seem legal to put so many kids in the same room together!"
soon enough, peter heard angry footsteps coming up. oh no. "dude, you gotta get out!" peter whispered violently as he pushed ned towards the window.
"dude! why do i need to leave?!" ned asked as he got ready to climb out the window using the ladder mj had placed there so he could sneak in, in the first place.
"bro, please!" peter panicked more as the footsteps got increasingly louder and more arrogant like. fortunately, the brown haired boy's friend managed to get out without the person with the angry footsteps entering the room.
"why the fuck was there talking in this room?!" a middle-aged woman, with brown, untidy hair screamed out as peter sat down on the mattress placed on the floor.
peter stammered nervously as he tried to come up with a lie. "i was- talking to myself, miss. i'm so sorry for disturbing you. i didn't realise i was being so loud!" peter tried to walk away as the treacherous woman emerged closer to him. "please!! i didn't mean to!" he pleaded.
just as the woman held out her hand getting ready to slap peter across the face, another girl came in. she had delicate blonde hair that was tied up neatly with a bow and her and angelic blue eyes.
"miss! the rats have returned and are eating your vegetables! come quick!" the girl spoke from the doorway.
"i'm not done with you." the older woman spoke as she pointed a finger accusingly at the boy before racing out the room.
peter let out a soft sigh before tears began streaming down his face and he went over to go hug the girl. "that was so scary- she came up to me and-and i didn't know what she would do to me... thank you." he breathed out as she just stroked his curls and whispered soft nothings into his ear.
"shhh, it's all okay, peter. she's gone, it's okay. shhh." the young female spoke.
the pair stayed like that for about another minute. the girl, who went by the name of arya, looked around the room and tried to piece the pieces together of what had happened seeing as peter was in no state to answer himself.
"pete, what happened? why are legos on the floor?" she asked, looking down at him.
"my friend sneaked in and he dropped the legos once he saw the state of the room... i heard miss coming up the stairs and i-i told him to sneak out again... i didn't have time to clean up." he lied. "i was so scared! she was just coming up the stairs so quickly and now i have to explain to my friend why he had to leave-"
he got cut off by arya, who held out a hand to stop him from talking. she just hushed him once again gently until she heard her 'care-taker' come up the steps.
"shit," she muttered under her breath as the realisation hit her. "kay, pete? why don't you go hide in the kids' closet and i will stay here!" she said in a fake cheery voice.
peter looked up at her and frowned. "i'm not a baby. i know miss is coming upstairs. you should go, i can handle this."
"pete. i'm the oldest here, and it is my duty to make sure you guys are safe." she replied.
"but it's me she's angry with. please go." he begged as he let go of the hug.
arya ruffled his hair a bit before going off to the girls' room. peter quickly used this time time shove all the legos under the bunk bed closest. he hurriedly did this and managed to do it in record time.
"peter! you fucking piece of shit. don't lie to me, i know what really happened." she said, spit flying out of her mouth.
the young boy gulped. "y-you do?"
"yes. you fucking invited a girl round so you can have sex with her! what a fucking disgusting boy. did your parents not teach you anything whilst they were alive?"
"no! miss, i would never do that! i'm way too young to have... that. miss, please i swear! please.." his voice break during the last 'please' he said. the poor kid's eyes were all teary as the woman looked at him with nothing but pure hatred.
"quit your whining. come with me." she demanded as she grabbed onto his wrist harshly and dragged him down the wooden staircase.
"PLEASE, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! PLEASE! MISS, PLEASE YOU NEED TO BELIEVE ME!" he begged. all the other kids were in the kitchen so when they heard his despite cries for help, they stuck their heads round the kitchen door to see a crying peter being dragged to what they called the doom room.
the doom room was a small, dark room with nothing in it. the 'caretaker' of this place would lock you in there with no food nor water and you just kind of get left there. the other children in the place weren't allowed to go near the room at all unless they were put in it. sometimes, you'd be locked in there for ages, you start to lose all hope you'll ever get out. the doom room was just horrible.
the 'care-taker' harshly threw peter in there and locked the door, muting peter's innocent cries. she turned around to see all the kids' watching. "TURN THE OTHER WAY UNLESS YOU WANT TO END UP THE SAME WAY."
with that, they resumed sitting down at the kitchen table and eating small portions of leftovers arya had made for them all.
pretty soon, night time emerged and peter was still left in the closet. he was becoming more and more tired but refused to let himself sleep for whatever reason.
knock knock. "peter?" a muffled voice came from the other side of the door. the 14 year old sat up straight.
"arya? what- what are you doing here? you'll get in trouble." he worried.
"it's okay, miss is in a deep sleep. are you doing okay, pete? god, how can i let her hurt you like this. i'm so sorry."
"it's okay! i'm fine here. hey, max's teddy is in here; he's keeping me company." he giggled as he wiped his now red and puffy eyes.
she let out a relieved sigh. "pete? i've brought you some buttered toast, because i know you didn't eat supper and there was no leftovers." she slowly slid a white marble plate with a buttered toast on top.
when he retrieved the toast, he quickly ate it up seeing as he hadn't eaten in ages and then slid the plate back under. "thank you, arya. you're the best big sister ever." he said.
the 17-year-old female smiled. "and you're the best little brother ever."