@heroicxchaotic // endgame based starter call
Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing-- B.A.R.F. for short. He’s introduced to it shortly after his return, coming back after the five years had passed-- five years that only felt like seconds to him. He does his best to pretend, fake as if he’s doing alright, but most are able see through him crystal clear. It’s...a lot to deal with. The kid with the weight of the world already resting on his shoulders-- tackling DYING, returning to a world moved on, thrown right back into a battle, and then watching yet another death. It hurts, the heavy weight of loss that he’s too familiar with by now. He went to the funeral, and he’s trying his best to be okay, especially for the people that really deserve to mourn more than he does ( like Pepper and Rhodey and Happy and Morgan ), but with not just Mr. Stark’s death, but everything piling up on him, he’s far from okay.
And once that’s made known, he’s offered a sort of...method. Not a solution, nothing will solve this as much as Peter WANTS things to return to normal, but...something Mr. Stark invented. For therapeutic purposes. He’s unsure at first, but...it’s better than trying to get himself to talk to someone. So he wears the glasses and relives the memories through projection.
It’s a slippery slope from there.
He starts using it more often than he probably should. Usually in secret, just to hear the VOICES in his mind once more. It starts with memories of Mr. Stark, and then he decides to try it out with Ben, and sometimes it isn’t even with other people, just his own memories. He’s told it’s meant to WORK THROUGH traumatic experiences, but he’s just stuck in a loop. Now? He’s on the battlefield again, augmented memory surrounding him as he kneels down in front of Mr. Stark. Closure, that’s what he needs, right? “Mr. Stark? It’s me-- it’s Peter, I-- we won--” He chokes out, and although this all already happened, he can still feel the tears burning. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know it’s...I know it’s my fault. I figured it out, you did it for me, and-- and I don’t get why, I...it’s my fault, I know it’s my fault, I’m sorry, Tony, I’m sorry-”
The memory fades soon afterwards, and Peter takes off the glasses, letting out a breath. He doesn’t get up, instead keeping himself sat on the ground and hugging his knees to his chest. His vision goes blurry, and before he knows it, hot tears are streaming down his cheeks, loud sobs getting caught in his throat. He doesn’t know how long he sits there, not until there’s a voice nearby, slowly lifting his head, red eyes meeting Pepper’s. “I’m sorry-” He repeats, looking downwards again, embarrassed to be caught like this. “I can’t-- I can’t stop-”