There was pain. Pain. Coursing throughout. Pain burning and racing and spreading. Screaming and begging for attention. It stopped begging, and demanded. It demanded to be seen, to be felt. It demanded to be present. It smiled and screamed all at the same time. Until finally, it stopped.

Then there was the falling. The pain wasn't there, but something was. Uneasiness. A pit. And there was nothing. Too much of nothing. It clung to the air and crept into , falling, falling. Weightless, yet complete heaviness. Emptiness.

The sinking began slowly. But it was noticed quickly. Panic ensued. Heaviness. No strength, complete submission to the sinking. The pace increased. The sinking continued, faster- heavier- stronger- panic.

Finally… the peace. The pain washed away, the falling over, and the sinking finished. There wasn't any emptiness, nor was there heaviness. There was breathing, open full breath. There was blissfully nothing. And everything.

Peter jolted to consciousness. Everything became sharper, clearer. He became aware of his breathing. It was panicked. Peter willed himself to calm down. His eyes made their way to his alarm clock. 4:30. He knew he couldn't go back to sleep now. He had 3 hours until he needed to go to school. May would be at an early shift right now, so Peter decided to patrol. On with his suit, and out of his window, Peter set to patrol the streets of Queens.

"Karen, is there any crime happening in Queens?" Peter asked his AI.

"According to police radio and new reports, there is no crime in Queens."

"Ahh, I'm so bored! There's seriously nothing? This is like, the perfect time for criminals! No one's even awake!" Peter complained to, well, himself, really.

"I'm sorry, Peter. I'm sure someone will do something illegal soon." Karen replied.

"God, I hope so!... I mean I don't! Crime's bad. I know that, I'm just... bored."

"Peter, you've got an incoming call from Tony Stark."

"What? Why? I-uh- Hi, Mr. Stark!"

"Kid it's like 5 in the morning. Why is Spider-Man out on patrol?" Tony's voice spoke through the speaker.

"What? I just couldn't sleep- how do you know, anyways?" Peter asked.

"You do remember that your suit has a tracker in it?" Tony mocked.

"Does it alert you whenever I put it on?" Peter tensed at the thought, "Cuz that's a little weird."

"No, kid. There's a map with the tracker on it in my lab. I glanced and noticed it." Tony casually said.

"So, you're chastising me for being up, when you're literally in your lab? Mr. Stark, I don't think that's fair." Peter tried to reason.

"Who's the adult/billionaire? When you're an adult/billionaire, you can do whatever you want at 5 in the morning. Til then, you need to sleep like a regular person."

"Well, I'm not exactly a regular person, am I?" Peter said, as he spotted a man with a gun entering a store.

He swung down to the doors as Tony began talking, "If anything, you need more sleep. You burn calories like 7 times as fast as most people. You need sleep to recover from what you're doing."

"Yeah, yeah I hear that…" Peter watched the man pull his gun on the cashier and charged in the store, slinging a web and taking the gun from the man. "It's just that... " The man quickly drew another gun on the cashier. "Hey, that's not fair! You're not supposed to have two! Where did you even pull that from?"

"Police have been notified, Peter, and will be here in 8 minutes." Karen said in her calm voice.

"I'm sorry…? Are you in the middle of something? Is now not a good time?" Tony sarcastically asked Peter.

"No, no. It's fine, I'm listening! I'm a good multi-tasker!" He said as he webbed the robber's hand and pulled him towards the counter, smacking his head against it. "I was going to say that I've just been having a hard time sleeping lately, that's all." He felt something behind him and turned in time to see another man pull a gun.

"Holy shit, two of you? And to rob just one store? That's a little sad, if I'm honest. Oof!" Peter said, nearly getting hit with a bullet, dodging it just in time.

"You good there, Petey?" Tony tried to ask casually, but clearly caring.

"Oh, I'm just getting a little workout." Peter said, jumping to the ceiling. "You know, a before school workout. Gotta stay in shape."

Robber #1, as Peter decided to call him, angrily yelled at #2 to 'kill him' or something. Peter laughed.

"Oh, I'd love that, guy. But, listen. It's like 5:00! There's nothing in the register! How crappy of a robber do you have to be to rob a store with 2 guys at 5 in the morning in a poor neighborhood?"

A bullet grazed his shoulder. "Oh, man! You're not here for the fun, are you? Okay, I'll get this over with." Peter webbed #2 up and then to #1.

He turned to the cashier. "You okay?" The young man nodded fearfully. "Good. Police will be here in… oh, 6 minutes to pick them up. Don't worry, that stuff lasts a few hours. I gotta go!"

Peter ran out the doors and slung up to a nearby building. "Mr. Stark, you still there?"

"Peter, you have one injury on your left shoulder. I advise seeking medical attention." Karen's voice rang through Peter's head.

"Did you get hit?" Tony immediately asked.

"Ah, it barely touched me. I can pretty much just get a bandaid on it and it'll be fine by tomorrow morning." He was sliding his sleeve down to look at the wound.

"Are you lying to me? Because if you're lying, I'm gonna kick your ass."

"I'm not lying! I'm being honest, I swear."

"You're trying too hard, Parker."

"It really isn't bad. It's already starting to heal up." A lie, but Peter didn't want to go to the hospital today. Plus, May had a few medical things available for Peter at home.

"Fine. Let's talk about your sleeping problems."

"D-Do we need to do that? I don't think it's, like, a pressing issue." Peter said, grimacing in pain as he swung towards his apartment.

"When did it start?" Tony sincerely asked.

Peter froze, which considering that he was mid-swing was probably a mistake. He, however, didn't realize this until he had hit a building with a loud yelp.

"Did you just hit a building?" Tony snickered.

"Uh, no! I did not, I slightly miscalculated, that's all." He was nearly home, just a few buildings away. He finally reached the roof of his building and sat for a few moments catching his breath.

"So… when did it start?" Tony asked.

"Man, we're still on this? It… happened after… after Thanos, I guess." Peter said, shrugging it off. Again, not a great idea on his part- he'd just been shot in the shoulder.

"Oh. Well, uh… you can talk to me about it whenever you want. You know that, right?" Tony said, trying to turn on his nurturing voice. It wasn't fully developed yet.

"Yeah, of course, Mr. Stark. I know I can. And I'm fine, really. I just don't sleep as much anymore, that's all." Peter said, feeling panic rising in his chest. "Listen, Mr. Stark, I gotta go. I need to clean up this little… scrape on my shoulder and finish some homework."

"Okay, kid. Just… be careful. Don't be stupid- I mean…"

"I get it, Mr. Stark. Don't do anything you would do."

"Exactly. Later, Pete."

Peter let out a sigh of relief. Glad that conversation's over. Peter started feel the panic rise again. He entered his bedroom through the window.

"Peter, you're heart rate is at high levels. Are you distressed?"

"No, Karen! I'm fine. And don't tell Mr. Stark. He doesn't need to know literally every little scrape and bruise I get."

He took his suit off and looked at his wound. It's not too bad… He told himself. He went to the closet with medical supplies with bandages and disinfectants. He cleaned his injury and bandaged it. Peter put everything back in the closet so that May didn't notice. He did not need her noticing right now. She had been under a lot of stress lately. And it was pretty much all from him.

Peter went back to his bedroom to put on his suit. He eyed his most recent suit that Tony had made him- his Iron-Spider suit. Peter went to grab it, and suddenly, he wasn't in his bedroom.

Empty and cold. Wind was felt, yet it wasn't there. Falling, falling, falling. Sinking. Slowly sinking. Finally, peace. Then, pain. Excruciating pain. Mind-bending, heart stopping, body reducing pain.

Peter finally took in a breath. 'You're back. You're safe. You're okay', he told himself. Peter dropped the suit and turned to his older one. Sure, the Iron Spider suit was bulletproof and a hell of a lot cooler, but he could manage with the older one- bullet holes and all. Peter put the suit on, excluding his mask and got ready for school.

After an exhausting day at school, Peter finally made it home. He knew he needed sleep, but the thought of it filled him with dread. He hadn't been able to have a restful sleep without the same nightmares as he used to. He changed into casual clothes and started inspecting his wound from earlier. It had started its healing process, but wasn't healing as quickly is it should've been. Peter decided to put that in the back of his mind and watch some TV.

Ten minutes later, he got a text from Happy. Grab your suit. I'll be there in 25 minutes.

"Yes!" Peter pumped his fist in the air. This day had just been full of bad decisions because that very much hurt his arm. He ignored it and went to grab his suit. Again, he looked to both his regular and Iron Spider suit. He didn't think that he could wear his Iron Spider suit, but he didn't want to disappoint Tony, so he shoved both in his backpack and waiting the 25 minutes. He saw Happy's car and made his way to the street.

His stomach flipped, and he felt a dull pressure in the back of his head. He quickly checked his surroundings. A force gripped his collar and threw him to the ground. His vision started fading.

"What the hell?" He blurted out before blinking and clearing his vision. There was nothing. He ran towards the car, opening the passenger door. "Happy, help! They're-" A middle-aged man smiled at Peter when blunt pain pierced Peter's skull- and then, there was nothing.