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Breakfast in the castle was delectable as always that morning; but the breakfast was always delectable. It was too routine, and Peter was already starting to develop a bad taste for the repetitiveness at the age of fifteen. It was that morning in particular that changed everything; the day where Steve had dropped his class of milk on the ground upon seeing his two husbands come into the dining room. Peter had turned his head to see his other guardians, and upon seeing just what sort of disarray their appearances were in he had grimaced. He remembered rolling his eyes and finishing his breakfast. The prince also remembered excusing himself quickly before he walked to his lab. Well, it wasn’t his own laboratory, but Tony lent it to him for when he didn’t have any lessons. Usually, Peter would tinker with clocks and other mechanical items. He took them apart, memorized what went where, ultimately seeing what made the object work.
When Peter looks back on that day, he supposes the trouble really started around lunch time. He and Steve would often tour the city their castle resided in, usually every Saturday, and see for themselves how the city was doing. They always visited the poorer parts of the city, starting with the farms and working their way into the city.
Peter got bit on the surprise visit to the Osborn Potion Labs when he entered one of the rooms the alchemists were testing magically engineered spiders in.
Peter prefers to skip the next part of the story, but he died that night. Of course he was only dead for an hour, but when he woke up he had abilities that, if he was being honest, scared the shit out of him.
Now, almost four years later after surviving death, Peter’s great at controlling pretty much every new ability. His super strength had been more challenging to master, but Steve and Bucky had helped him. Considering their pasts, they had been the ideal candidates. The only thing that scares Peter still are the fangs. They come out when he’s really hungry or aroused, and frankly Peter tries not to think about how he found out about the latter cause. He can usually reveal them at will but he still couldn’t control it during those moments even after four years. The weirdest thing though, was that Peter would continuously feel as if he’d forgotten something very important. That’s besides the point though; after all this is a story about now, not then. So, let’s begin. Shall we?
Peter was patrolling the slums as he usually did, and nothing seemed amiss. He sat crouched on the flat roof of one of the taller buildings in the area, and waited.
He had already turned in two thieves to their parents, after asking them why they were stealing as they couldn’t have been older than ten. He had talked with them for a while after that. They were brother and sister, children of a farmer whose crops were failing. He told the mother he would find a way to contact the Prince to see what he might be able to do, and the woman had teared up as she thanked him.
The hardest thing about being Spiderman was having to hide his identity. Aunt May, Steve, Tony, and Bucky all knew about Spiderman after the first year, since Peter had done a really crap job at hiding it. Originally, the mask had been so they wouldn’t find out, but then it became a safety thing. Steve had agreed with Tony and his aunt that he needed to have a better disguise if he was going to be endangering himself. Tony and Steve had been reluctant at first to let Peter keep being Spiderman and therefore keep putting himself in harm’s way. Bucky and Aunt May had saved the day, basically, having brought up to the inventor and the diplomat that Peter would do it anyway even if they told him he couldn’t.
It was nearing the end of the shift change for the guards, so Peter shook the thoughts from his mind as he stood and stretched his arms. He should get back to the castle, he thought. As he traversed through the city as dawn broke, he could see early risers staring. Peter waved at at as many he could while swinging from the webs his wrists created as he needed them.
Eventually he took a more secluded route that hid his path to the castle from the city residents. He really didn’t want to explain to an entire kingdom that the prince was actually a superhero. He doubted that would make him feel complete.
As Peter landed on the balcony that connected to his quarters, he took off the mask and walked into the bathroom. He stripped down and washed his face before going to the wardrobe in the main part of his bedroom. He picked out his bed clothing and decided to get some rest, but as he walked towards the large bed that stood in the center of the room he felt every muscle he had tense.
Peter dove into a roll towards the door that led to the rest of the castle. That’s when Peter saw him. Framed by the golden light of the rising sun was a man dressed in light mercenary armor. As Peter registered that this man was probably sent here to kill him, he also saw how beautiful the man was.
Why are hired killers always so attractive, he thought as he frowned. Peter rubbed his temples while still keeping his eyes on the killer.
“Seriously?” Peter muttered, before seeing the man grin. The only scars on the man’s face were a small one through one of his eyebrows, and another that began at the top left of his bottom lip that went all the way down to his chin. Peter briefly had a feeling of curiosity as to where those came from, the story behind the scars and the man, before the man threw a knife toward him.
Peter twisted his body out of the way before catching the knife by the handle and dropping it at his feet. The man’s eyebrows raised before his face returned to a more stoic expression. The man mumbled something under his breath that Peter wasn’t able to catch before the two stared at each other for a moment. Peter, who at this point was feeling very conflicted, noticed the man’s right hand twitch and Peter’s senses told him he was in danger once again.
The man lunged for Peter, but Peter rolled out of the way. The prince kicked the man in the back but made sure to hold off a little. The man grunted before rolling onto his side, trying to kick at Peter’s feet. Peter was faster and stopped the kick with his hands as he went into a crouch. The man blinked and at that moment Peter quirked a brow, twisting the man’s ankle to the angle that would hurt but not snap.
“Whoever sent you obviously failed to mention how many failed assassinations have occured in this room. I suggest you start explaining just who that was before I break your ankle.” Peter stated, twisting a tad more to prove his point before glaring at the man. The man grimaced, and there was some sort of look in his eyes-
“Whoever sent me failed to mention how gorgeous you and your ass are.” He said, and Peter faltered.
“Excuse me?” Peter breathed out, his grip on the man’s ankle loosening. He was positive he was blushing.
Was this guy who was sent to kill him hitting on him?
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footfalls from outside Peter’s room made the him glance up towards the noise, and Peter realized he had let go of the man’s ankle.
“Well, that’s my cue. See ya later baby boy!” The man said as he rushed to the balcony and leapt off the railing.
Peter blinked, barely registering Natasha’s voice and hand on his shoulder.
“Peter!” Natasha exclaimed, and Peter starred up at her. Peter looked to where he had dropped the man’s knife, and his eyes widened when he saw it wasn’t there anymore.
“I’m good Nat. Just practicing some kicks.” Peter said quietly. He saw Natasha raise an eyebrow, and he knew she didn’t really believe him; he knew she’d let it go though.
Peter would later realize his fangs had been out since the man had called him baby boy.
It wasn’t until the next week that Peter saw the man. Peter had just changed into his bed clothes for the night when he felt someone’s gaze on him. It was a similar sensation to when his spidey senses went off, but he knew there was no danger; at least, not yet. The prince turned and saw the man who had tried to kill him just the week before. It was strange now, since Peter couldn’t sense any danger.
Why was he back if not to kill him?
“Wade Wilson.” The man said, and Peter frowned. He knew that name, but from where?
“Uh… Is that your name?” He asked, and the man grinned, nodding. His face suddenly fell, as if he had realized something horrible.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” Wade sighed before leaning back onto the wall his back had been facing. Peter’s frown deepened. Should he remember a Wade Wilson?
As if caused by that train of thought, Peter’s memories clicked into place.
“Sister Margaret’s… Holy shit, Wade Wilson.” Peter smiled as he remembered the man who had protected him countless times at the orphanage when they were younger.
“Peter Parker.” Wade was still grinning, and now Peter was too. Peter practically ran at Wade to hug the man, and his grin threatened to split his face when Wade returned the hug.
Peter pulled away slightly so he could look at Wade’s face.
“How?” He asked quietly, still smiling.
Wade’s face grew a tad guarded, and as he pulled away from the hug completely he got this sad, and now very familiar, look in his eyes. Peter frowned, before reaching a hand out to touch Wade’s arm. The older man seemed to see Peter again and he smiled sadly.
“You remember that you’re my anchor?” Wade mumbled, barely audible. Peter hummed, nodding.
“Yeah. Just had to jog my memory.” Peter confirmed, leading Wade to sit on his bed. The prince saw Wade’s eyes sparkle and then dim, and Peter laughed.
“You finally learned how to keep sexual comments to yourself.” Peter joked. Wade blinked before huffing an aborted laugh. He looked off to the side as he answered.
“Only sometimes.” Wade said, and Peter squeezed Wade’s arm a tad, making the mercenary glance back at Peter. The two sat in silence for a moment before Peter spoke.
“I’m sorry I forgot. I remembered you before I-“ Peter stopped, looking at Wade, who’s brow was furrowed. Peter knew he was working something out in his mind, and his thoughts were confirmed when Wade gasped.
“The Osborn Potion Labs. I… What happened? I didn’t know that was you, if I had known you were the prince then I would have tried to contact you-“ Wade stopped himself, and Peter saw the look in Wade’s eyes that meant he was rearranging his thoughts. Wade took a breath as Peter waited patiently, the prince's expression open.
“You vanished Peter. After your aunt found you and took you from Sister Margaret’s they told me you and I wouldn’t be able to ever talk again. I never tried to find you because you had the life you always talked about Peter. No, don’t give me that look, I’m serious Peter…” Wade sighed.
“I wanted you to be happy and, I know I shouldn’t have made the assumption that you’d be better off without me but… That’s the mindset I was in. The boxes never stopped talking after you left. Hell, Yellow was crying for a week. White got pretty nasty after the first year you had left, and Yellow did the same shortly after. The only thing that would shut them up was being violent and-“ Wade stopped, his body tensing.
“It’s okay Wade. You did what you had to do to make them quiet. I’m not mad at you, and I’m not disappointed.” Peter said calmly, knowing Wade had been worried about Peter’s opinion.
Wade looked at Peter, and Peter smiled. Peter leaned closer to Wade, resting his head on the man’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. It was quiet for a while, Peter letting Wade calm down before he spoke.
“Wade, I never forgot about you until after the whole thing at Osborn’s. I got bit by some sort of magically engineered spider and I died for an hour. I didn’t remember how to talk for a while, I didn’t know who Aunt May was until she got back from a diplomatic trip… She mentioned your name once and I was so confused until I realized that whoever you were, I couldn’t remember you. And that was four years ago. I’ve been trying so hard to keep being a prince and learn how to control my abilities and… I’m so sorry Wade.” Peter rambled, feeling tears stumble out of the corners of his eyes.
He felt Wade’s hand rubbing slow circles into his back, and he sighed.
“It took a second, but I’m glad I remember you now.” Peter said, before he started to feel like he was falling asleep. The last thing he processed was Wade saying that he loved him before he did in fact fall asleep.
Peter woke up to a missing Wade and a piece of parchment with Peter’s name on it, with information on how to find Wade.
Peter smiled, ecstatic that he finally remembered his best friend, and content now that he felt like there wasn’t anything missing anymore.