Peter dug his nails into the ground as he fought off another wave of magic. The gold and red spirals enveloped him, pushing against him with all its might as he guarded his teammates.

Gritting his teeth, he blindly tried to web up the Asgardian sorcerer, missing his mark entirely. "Can't save the world all by myself, Cap!" Peter screamed through the comms as the magic pushed him back a little, causing him to sink deeper into the dirt.

"Thor, NOW!" Tony commanded as the six foot tall Asgardian used all his might to strike the sorcerer with his lightning. 

"You think you can defeat me this easily, Odinson?" The sorcerer spat, having recovered quickly. He sent a wave of magic towards Thor. He deftly flicked it away from him, spinning his hammer expertly to ward himself. Unfortunately, it hit Peter square in the chest and he collapsed onto his back, coughing. "I'm fine." Peter reassured his teammates. "Don't worry 'bout me."

"Even your dear father couldn't fight me for long. I have an army of spells that could render you paralyzed for years, Odinson!" The Asgardian dumb-ass monologued.

"Well, we have a Loki." Thor announced proudly as his brother jumped in front of them, knives spinning and tendrils of green magic snaking around his hands. "You've bought enough death and destruction to Midgard today, sorcerer." Loki said as he deftly flicked a magic boosted knife towards the rouge Asgardian, trapping him in a cage of green power.

"Fools!" The Asgardian screamed as he tried to free himself. "I am the most powerful sorcerer in Asgard! You cannot defeat me!" Loki crossed his arms as he donned a small smirk on his face. "I'm afraid your intelligence seems to be worse than your sorcery skills, Supreme Sorcerer" Loki mocked. "For the most powerful sorcerer happens to be my mother, Frigga."

Before the Asgardian could reply, Loki quickly conjured up a muzzle, similar to the ones the Avengers had first used on him, and deftly locked it in place on the sorcerer, rendering him speechless.

Loki grinned mischievously as he lazily raised a finger, sending the protesting Asgardian into the air. Loki paralyzed his limbs as he slowly turned to Cap. "Where do you want me to put him, oh Captain my Captain?" Loki asked. "S.H.I.E.L.D would be just fine, Loki." Steve said.

Loki flicked his hand one last time as a portal opened up and dropped the villain into S.H.I.E.L.D's most secure cell. "There you go. You're welcome." Loki rolled his eyes as he turned to the Avengers.

Thor was positively beaming as he snaked a hand around Loki's shoulders. Cap and Tony were sighing in relief as Natasha and Clint collapsed onto the ground, thoroughly exhausted. They all smiled a little as Natasha said "Why the hell was he not here from the start?"

Loki smiled, his mouth forming a half- smirk. "Well, Fury still insists on keeping me on probation." He said. "The man's so paranoid that he freaked out when I turned into a black cat."

Peter opened his mouth to make a smart retort, but only ended up coughing into his fist. My throat's really sore.

"The clean-up crew is on its way guys, let's head back to the base." Tony announced, mumbling commands to JARVIS to send in the Quinjet.

______________________________________

Peter stared at his reflection in horror. He watched his lips move in the bathroom mirror. He felt his vocal cords vibrate, but he didn't produce any sound. He stumbled, falling against the door as he clawed at his throat.

How could he have let this happen?

How could he be so careless?

Why wasn't he more alert on the battlefield?

Peter leaned against the doorway, breathing heavily to stabilize his erratic heartbeat. Maybe it wasn't magic that robbed his voice. It could be a simple flu, right?

Please no.

In the end Peter decided not to tell the Avengers. He didn't want to listen to them tell him it's incurable or worse. He didn't want to walk around the tower, only to see an Avenger looking at him with pity, like he was weak. So he decided to keep this to himself.

After all, how hard would it be to hide this for a few days?

Turns out hiding it wasn't the problem at all.

______________________________________

School wasn't an issue. After a quick text to Ned and MJ that said that he wasn't well and wouldn't attend school for a week, he hacked into the system to change his attendance so that the Avengers wouldn't know he missed school.

He spent school hours in his old apartment, which Tony had bought and converted into a lab for Peter to use. This came in handy as it wasn't just a over-glorified garage, but actually had basic equipment for every field. That meant that Peter had all that he needed for finding out what had happened to him.

A few lab tests later, Peter determined that it wasn't a flu. Whatever happened to him happened purely due to magic, and left no physical traces.

What had the sorcerer said?

That he had an army of spells that could render him paralyzed.

A sense of dread washed over Peter as he collapsed onto a couch. The sorcerer had effectively ruined his throat, and Peter wasn't sure about anything.

Is it temporary?

Will it spread?

Will I never get my voice back?

______________________________________

Peter never knew what truly hurt until today. The times Flash called him worthless and stupid seemed to fade into background noise.

From the past few days, life had become hell for Peter, and it wasn't just because of his voice.

______________________________________

When Peter came back to the tower after 'school', he quietly sat down on the couch and put on Star Wars, hoping that no one will notice that something was really wrong with him.

Unfortunately, due to Parker Luck ™, Tony had noticed that Peter wasn't reciting the dialogues word to word under his breath. He walked over to the couch and mussed up Peter's hair.

"Hey, kid. Glad to see you aren't reciting the Star Wars script like a nerd anymore." Tony said absentmindedly before leaving.

But that wasn't all. As the day progressed, Clint was happy when Peter didn't throw a sarcastic comment at him when he messed up. Natasha was happy that he wasn't talking during training and told him that people could concentrate on their training better now that they didn't get distracted by him. Steve was happy he didn't keep interrupting the team briefings with witty remarks, and Bruce and Tony could finally concentrate on whatever they were doing in the lab instead of constantly chitchatting with Peter. Thor didn't even notice.

By the end of the week, it was like the Avengers even forgot that Peter could talk. It was like they were relieved that he had lost his voice.

Peter could see that they were happy, happier than he had ever seen them, when he stopped talking.

So when he got his voice back, he remained mute.

(A/N: You could stop reading now and take this as an ending, or read the rest as another.)

______________________________________

Something was off. He could sense it around Peter. The fear, the pain, the agony, the silence. It was a combination Loki knew all too well. It was what Loki felt the day he realized that he wasn't who he thought he was. The day he lost a part of himself.

Ever since the capture of the Asgardian sorcerer, Peter wasn't himself. His bubbly personality, his hilarious comments and his mouth that seemed to run a mile a minute seemed to have vanished overnight.

At first, Loki thought that it was a 'teenage phase', as Midgardians called it, and Loki decided to give Peter space to revert to his old self, but that didn't happen. Instead, he got worse. His smiles had completely disappeared, he rarely interacted with anyone anymore, and he no longer spoke.

Loki could see him break into a million pieces, and knew all too well what it felt like.  He truly cared for Peter, and wanted to help him. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one who did.

So when Peter came back home one day, he asked him what happened. When he cried and sobbed, he comforted his kid. When Peter told him all that happened, he understood. When Peter shouted down that tunnel of darkness, Loki listened. And when he found the problem, he healed.

So when Peter started talking again, Loki was the one person to whom he always told the truth. The one person who he revealed himself to, the one person he spoke to, and the one person he trusted.

Loki was what Peter always needed, for sometimes, a broken heart is the only one which understands another.

______________________________________

A/N: Voila! Angst for everyone! It's a buy some angst get eternal feels free offer. I really love Loki and wanted to write something that showed the true him.

And Peter isn't over reacting in this. Just imagine what you would feel like if your family likes it when you hide who you really are, when the lie is what they like better, when they forget who you were.

Also I can't live without speaking.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Goodbye!