Chapter Text
After a few days of much-needed R&R at May's, Peter was back to feeling 100%... physically, anyway.
While her pep talk had greatly lessened his overall sense of guilt, he still admittedly felt as though Yuri’s current predicament was his fault to a degree.
On top of that, he was worried about her condition as there had been no updates on the news nor from Yuri herself.
He felt as though he’d been going a bit stir crazy as he waited to hear something, anything, about how she was doing.
“Thank you so much again, May. These past few days were exactly what I needed. I love you.” Peter said as he gave May a squeeze before heading out the door.
“Of course, Peter. I love you, too. Are you sure you don’t need a ride home?” She asked, still a bit concerned.
“I’m alright, May. You’ve done enough for me already; I’ll take the train home.” Peter replied, chuckling softly.
“Alright, if you’re sure. It was so lovely to see you Peter, even under these circumstances. Take care of yourself and call me if you need anything.”
Smiling, Peter nodded before turning around and heading out.
Oh man, I have seriously neglected the city over the past week. Day’s still young, I’ll grab my suit and go on patrol for a few hours before I head over to the lab. He thought to himself.
While he did enjoy being able to rest and give his body a break, he really missed being Spider-Man.
He was passionate about the job and the city, and he couldn’t fathom not doing it for any extended period of time.
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After an uneventful train ride that had Peter crinkling his nose at the familiar and unique smells of the subway now that his congestion was gone, he sighed contently as he walked through the front door of his apartment.
Those few days with May suddenly have me acutely aware of how much of a mess my place is…
Wasting no time, he dropped his bag onto the floor and stripped out of his t-shirt and jeans, pulling on his Spider-Man suit in what had to be record time.
Smiling as he tugged his mask over his head, he bounded over to his window and pulled it open.
Letting out an excited ‘Whoop’, he leapt outside and felt exhilarated as the cool New York air swept over his body.
One of his favorite parts of being Spider-Man was web-swinging. While each movement was carefully calculated to avoid bodily harm or property damage, it had become second nature to him at this point.
Flying through the air, and especially that brief moment of hitting the peak of an arch before free-falling in between shooting out another set of webs, was just so freeing. That novelty would never wear off for him.
After a few minutes of simply enjoying himself, Peter’s attention was drawn to the sound of shouting nearby.
“And here we go!” He said to himself aloud with a tad more excitement than was probably appropriate.
That noise led him to an alley, always with the alleyways!, where what appeared to be a drug deal gone wrong was taking place.
The all-too-familiar glint of weapons being brandished caught his eye.
“Fellas, it’s not even 10AM! The drugs are going to spoil your breakfast!” Peter chided as he perched himself on the wall slightly above the group.
“Spider-Man! Was starting to think you were dead or something. Wish you was. Get outta here!” One of the men shouted with a sneer.
Peter dramatically pressed the back of his hand against his forehead, feigning hurt.
“Come now, you wound me! Didn’t anyone ever teach you that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all?” He said as he kicked off of the wall and jumped to the ground.
There were several guns trained on him now, but this was nothing that he couldn’t handle. Quickly shooting out some well-aimed webs, he had everyone disarmed within a matter of seconds.
“You didn’t really think that was going to work, did you?” Peter asked.
Not feeling particularly chatty, apparently, a few of the men exchanged glances with one another before charging at him with their fists raised.
"Seems like everyone’s getting along now! You know what they say, the enemy of your enemy is…also your enemy? Or something like that.” Peter said as he took them all down and webbed them up for the police.
“Hang tight, guys! Just think, you can all take this opportunity to build a beautiful long-lasting friendship while you’re sharing cells in jail!”
One of the men groaned, “Oh my god, shut the hell up Spider-M-“ before promptly being silenced by a web to the mouth.
“Rude!” Peter said, before shooting off another web and zipping over to a rooftop.
As he continued swinging through the city, his phone started to ring.
Wonder who that is? He thought absentmindedly before answering.
“Hello?”
“Spider-Man, hey –“
Peter froze mid swing, almost crashing straight into a light post before course correcting and perching on top of it.
“Yuri!” He cut her off in excitement. “Oh man, I am so glad to hear your voice. How are you, are you okay?”
He heard her laugh on the other end.
“Woah there, contain yourself. You’re making me think you actually missed me or something.”
Peter jumped off of the light post and shot out a web, opting to move to stand on a nearby rooftop instead.
“Well I mean, of course I did! I was really worried, I thought you were going to….” He trailed off, voice taking on a somber tone that Yuri wasn’t sure she’d ever heard coming from him before.
“I’m fine, Spidey. I should be cleared for duty again within the next two weeks or so.”
“Really? Yuri, that’s great news!” Peter said, cheerful tone staring to return to his voice.
“Listen, can I come see you? If you’re up for visitors, that is.” Yuri was silent for a moment.
“Given your…tenuous relationship with the police, I don’t know that it’s the best idea for me to be seen talking to you in here. But I promise you, I’m fine. We can meet up somewhere more discrete once I’m out of here.”
Right, she has a point. Peter thought to himself. Better just say it now.
“Sure, you’re right. That make sense. So uh, Listen, Yuri. I just wanted to say I’m so sor-“
“Hey, none of that!” Yuri snapped, cutting him off.
“A couple of my officers mentioned that you came by here earlier this week in shambles, and that you even got admitted to this hospital yourself before you went AWOL.”
Peter laughed awkwardly.
“Oh, yeah… I was, uh, not really feeling like my best self that day. It was nothing.” He heard Yuri sigh on the other side of the line.
“You know, that’s exactly why I told you to stay home in the first place the night before. Clearly, based on what I’m hearing, I made the right call.” She said, voice serious.
“But you ended up getting hurt because of it. You could have died because I wasn’t there!” Peter protested.
“I knew what I signed up for when I took on this job, Spider-Man. It’s always a risk. And besides, I’m still here. Honestly, do you think a few of Fisk and Tombstone’s goons would have been enough to take me out? Didn’t think you thought so little of me, partner.”
Peter started floundering.
“N- No, no, no! That’s not what I’m saying at all! Of course you can take care of yourself, I know that –“
“Then stop worrying about it! This wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you at all, and I’m not upset with you in any way. In fact, I did end up having a talk with the two officers that were stationed by my room the day you came by because their behavior was unacceptable. Sorry about them, Spidey. I hope you didn’t take what they said personally.”
“Oh, no, not at all… I totally understand that their emotions were just a little out of sorts in the heat of the moment.” Peter lied.
“...But it does help to hear you say that… I hope you know that you can rely on me whenever you need backup.”
“I trust you more than I do a lot of people on the force.” Yuri said earnestly.
“And you sound a lot better than you did the last time we talked, actually. Feeling better, I take it?” She asked, changing the subject.
Peter smiled, feeling both touched and relieved by Yuri’s concern.
“Yeah, much better. Thanks for uh, looking out for me, Yuri.”
“Don’t mention it. You’ve had my back more times than I can count since we’ve started working together. I was just returning the favor. But listen, one of the nurses is heading my way so I’m going to go. Talk soon.”
“Okay. Talk soon. In the meantime, Spider-Cop will be on the scene to keep an eye on things in your stead until you’re back on the- “ Peter started in a gruff voice.
Click
“Yuri? Yuri…? Oh well.”
With a slightly cleared conscience, and with his heart now soaring in his chest at the news of Yuri’s recovery, Peter spent the rest of the morning patrolling around the city before going back to his apartment to get ready for his “real” job.