Chapter Text
Peter was a great roommate.
He was quiet, he cleaned up after himself, and never complained when one of them hogged the bathroom. Sure, maybe he would spend all night typing away at his computer, but his stupid AI spoke into his headphones, so it didn't stop Ned from sleeping easily. Better than before, in fact, because he no longer got the fuzzy dreams that made him wake up crying because he missed… something.
After a few days of living with Peter, Ned realized that the man had no such things as a schedule, that at any time of the day or night, his phone would buzz and he would be out of the window before anyone could blink. That, by itself, was understandable. Crime didn't have a schedule. It did, however, have the unforeseen consequence of Peter falling asleep any time he had a free moment. He didn't always make it into bed, too.
That day, for example, he had fallen asleep on the couch, barely taking enough time to change out of his suit. A good thing, too, since Paul was visiting.
"Hey, MJ" Paul kissed his girlfriend "Ned, how're you doing?"
"Hey Paul." Ned didn't know how to feel about him anymore. He used to like him, but ever since remembering Peter, he also remembered his relationship with MJ, so his feelings were a little more… complicated than before. He still thought he was a decent partner for MJ, but there was a little twinge of empathy for Peter every time the two kissed.
"Who's the sleepyhead?" He asked, nodding at the sleeping lump, who didn't even twitch.
"Peter. He's crashing with me for a while." Ned said "He's been my best friend since kindergarten."
Paul raised an eyebrow "You never mentioned him"
"He wasn't… around these last four years. He had some family issues and had to move." That was a decent lie, right?
Before Paul could question the story, Peter's eyes blinked open.
"Hey" He said, stretching out like a cat "Sorry I fell asleep on the couch. Oh, hi."
"Hey. I'm Paul. MJ's boyfriend." He extended his hand to shake it, but Peter didn't take it.
"I know. I saw you at the party the other day. Ned, could you bring me the first aid kit form under our bed?"
Ned nodded and grabbed the box. In the short days Peter had been living with them, he had filled out the first aid kit to the point it was kind of difficult to close the lid, but Ned had seen him use it and knew it was probably a bit too minimalist, to say the least.
"Here you go"
"Thanks" He took off his shirt, uncaring of the way Paul's eyes widened "Fuck, he really got me"
He had a long cut under his ribs. It was bleeding a little, but even Ned could tell it wasn't enough to warrant stitches.
"What happened?" Paul asked "Are you okay?"
Peter hissed as he disinfected the cut "Yeah, I'm fine. New York, am I right?"
"Is this normal?"
"Are you not from here?"
Paul shook his head "Ohio. I moved here a few months ago, after we graduated."
"Welcome to New York then" Peter smiled "You got a favorite hero yet?"
"Spider-Man, obviously." Paul said
"Really?" Peter shot a mischievous look at Ned "I like the new Black Widow. She's cool."
Paul scoffed "Yeah, maybe, but Spidey's next level, man. He's the only superhero who actually looks like he cares, you know? Makes me feel… seen. Cared for. Like if he can't save someone, he'll at least mourn them."
Peter's look softened "That's a really nice way to put it. I'm glad he can be that for you"
"Pete here" MJ said while she handed him a bit of medical tape she cut. "Takes pictures of Spider-Man for a living."
Paul gasped in excitement "Really?"
"Don't get your hopes up, I work for the Bugle." Peter laughed at Paul's affronted look "I gotta pay the bills somehow"
"Yeah, but… the Bugle? Really?"
"It pays well." Peter let his shirt fall over his now-bandaged torso and tugged on his only pair of sneakers. "Speaking of, pizza? On me, the owner of this place a few blocks away owes me one."
"Dude, thanks!" Paul grinned as Peter left "I like him"
"Just in the spirit of honesty…" MJ crossed her arms "He's my ex"
"What?" Paul spluttered "I thought you told me you didn't date anyone in high school?"
MJ shrugged "It wasn't a very long relationship. I kinda forgot about it."
"Ah. So I have no reason to worry, then. Not that I thought you would ever cheat on me or anything, love. Just… general worry. And the lack of need thereof."
"No, there's nothing for you to worry about" MJ laughed "Pete's a good guy, he won't make a move on me."
"Okay" Paul was visibly pushing down his worries "I trust you."
"Just give him a chance, would you?" MJ kissed him "He's been through a lot, he deserves it."
"I will. I promise."
"Pizza's here!" Peter had been gone for about half an hour, way too long for someone who could swing halfway across the city in a few minutes. If it hadn't been for the Spidey-Tracker, Ned would have been starting to worry. "Sorry I took so long, I ran into Spider-Man stopping a robbery on the way there and took the opportunity to get some pics for the Bugle"
"I still maintain that the Bugle sucks" Paul said, all traces of his earlier discomfort gone "But thanks for the pizzas."
"I'm not arguin' with you, you are one hundred percent right." Peter took the camera out of his pocket and started flicking through the shots "Help me pick a couple of pics to send to Jameson, would ya?"
"Damn, dude, these are good"
Ned hadn't really paid attention to the pictures Peter took before. He had assumed he was a photographer more out of necessity for easy money than anything else. But seeing the pictures, he could appreciate that he actually had a pretty good eye for photography. Even MJ looked impressed, and she actually understood that kind of stuff.
"Thanks. The far away pics look a little grainy, but I'm saving up for a lens that will fix that." He said, blushing "You should see the pics from his fight against the Lizard last week, those were a lot more interesting than a random robbery."
"They just went with The Lizard?" Ned asked "That's a lame name, they couldn't think of anything better?"
Peter laughed "We knew they wouldn't. Fuck, I am not looking forward to the other guys"
Ned winced. Yeah, the Green Goblin or Doc Ock were not people he ever wanted to see again, alternate dimension or not. Or Electro.
Sandman might be okay, actually. He hadn't seemed like a guy who would hurt people on purpose.
"What other guys?"
"You know, anyone else who decides to do weird experiments on themselves. Disgruntled Oscorp scientists are all the rage nowadays" Peter lied with ease, gesturing with his pizza slice.
"At least it's no longer disgruntled Stark employees" Ned shuddered "Mysterio sucked."
"Tell me about it" Peter agreed "Fucker deserved what he got"
"Oh right, you were on a school trip when the whole thing happened" Paul noted "Weird coincidence how Spider-Man was in Europe at the same time you were. You think Spidey went to your school?"
Ned and MJ shared a panicked look, but Peter laughed "Probably. Can't think who it could have been, though. Flash was about the right height back then, but he doesn't live in New York anymore and I don't think he commutes every day from California."
"Hey, you're not Spider-Man, are you?" Paul asked playfully, not noticing the heart attack he almost gave Ned
"If only, right?" Peter sank into the couch. "It would be nice to be able to stick to walls, I almost fell off a roof trying to get a good shot of Spidey way too many times."
"But can you imagine, being a superhero? That'd be the dream"
"Yeah" Ned was probably the only one who noticed the bitter edge to Peter's words "The dream."
That night, Ned couldn't sleep. He was used to it, every time Peter was out he kept waking up, afraid that he had dreamed his return, that Peter wasn't real (or worse, dead) and he was never going to see him again. But Peter was sleeping above him, his soft breathing filling the room. He was there. So why couldn't Ned fall asleep?
The breathing changed.
For a second, Ned thought that maybe he had woken up. He knew that Peter slept with an earbud in, EV ready to wake him up if she caught wind of anything important that might warrant Spider-Man's intervention. Maybe something had happened and Spider-Man was needed.
But Peter didn't wake up. His breathing hitched, falling into soft sobs, so quiet Ned only noticed because of how much attention he had been paying in the first place. But he didn't wake up.
Ned should wake him up. He was pretty obviously having a nightmare, a good friend would wake him up, ask him what was wrong, talk to him about it. But he didn't. He stayed down there, listening to Peter cry. Eventually, the nightmares seemed to be too much, because he heard one last gasp. A few seconds later, Peter landed on the floor quietly.
Ned stared as he left their bedroom. He could see him go into the kitchen, but Peter didn't turn on any lights. With a sigh, Ned stood up and followed.
"Hey Ned" Peter said quietly "Couldn't sleep?"
When he turned on a light, Ned could see he had a glass of water clutched tightly in his hands, and was staring out the window.
"Yeah. You?"
"Nightmares." Peter put the glass down and sat on the floor, head tilted up "Do you remember the sleepovers we used to have when we were kids?"
"Not yet" He refused to believe the memories wouldn't come back. He hadn't remembered anything since the day at the diner, but… not yet. Someday.
"I would have nightmares then, too. About my parents. We would sneak out onto the roof of my house and look at the stars."
"I didn't know you lived in a house. I only remember your last apartment." He swallowed the lump in his throat.
"It was pretty small, but I loved it. After Uncle Ben died, we couldn't afford rent so we moved to the apartment. We had to sell a lot of stuff."
"I'm so sorry" He said, in lieu of an appropriate response. What could he say to something like that? He lived in the same house for most of his life, only moving out when he got into college. His moving out had been something to be proud of, not a necessity born of loss.
"I still miss my mom sometimes" He laughed bitterly "Aunt May raised me for way longer than Mom did, but sometimes I miss her so much it feels like I'm being stabbed in the chest. And I would know."
"And your dad?"
Peter shuddered, closing his eyes "I try not to think about him too much."
"That sucks" Ned sat next to Peter, patting his knee. The gesture seemed familiar, as if they had done the same thing many times, but no concrete memory came. "I can lock-pick the door to the roof if you want."
Peter laughed softly "It's okay" He leaned his head on Ned's shoulder "Why couldn't you sleep?"
"I dunno." He said instead of shrugging "I was just listening to you breathe."
Peter hummed "You've always been a little bit of a stalker"
"I have not!" He squawked, barely able to keep it quiet enough not to wake up MJ and Paul
"You built an entire app just to track me down. If that's not stalking, what is?"
"I was just…" Ned trailed off, blushing "Looking for you."
"Thank you" Peter said, so earnest it hurt "And I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you about everything."
"I don't forgive you, but I get it." He sighed "I get it."