Chapter Text
Peter sat cross legged on the building, staring at the crumbled note in his hand. He’d pulled off his spiderman mask, not wanting the suffocating feeling of the material on his throat or face anymore. He’d read the note enough to memorize it, but he continued to look at the words. The swoop of the letters and scrawled cursive script so familiar as his aunts. He’d need to find a place to sleep soon, but right now all he wanted to do was read and reread this over and over again. Sometimes he’d remember the very first time he’d read it, try to pretend he didn’t know the crushing ending.
Hi Peter,
I’m sorry if you are reading this, it means I was able to go through with my plan.
I’d been thinking this over for a long time, since your uncle died really,
And I think I am bad for you.
We both know that you never eat enough because I can’t manage to get money for groceries together,
And you have decided to take up two extra jobs to try and help me out,
(Plus your ‘volunteering’)
And I just don’t think it is fair to you to make you keep living this life with me here, when we both know the better option waiting right around the corner for you.
I have already set up a couple hundred dollars in your college fund, I drained my retirement money, or what was left of it, for that.
It isn’t as if I will be using it.
I am sure with your mentor and all you will be getting a full ride somewhere, probably to MIT, but that doesn't cover everything, you know?
Anyway, I am sorry to add myself to the pain in your life, you never deserved this, just know that I am trying to make this better for you. I want you to be happy again Pete.
So I’m taking my own life.
So I guess Parker Luck strikes again huh? We both know that one way or another I would end up dead before I got old, this will be easier for everyone. Please take this note to Tony, don’t go inside.
I larb you,
Aunt May
He sighed, dropping his head into his hands for a moment, before reluctantly taking his suit off. New York was freezing in the winters, so he tried to wear as many layers as possible. Especially on patrol. But he couldn’t exactly walk around without his mask on, and the idea of the fabric on his neck right now was too much. At some point he would sling a web up somewhere and take a nap, he didn’t really sleep in eight hour increments anymore, but probably not for a couple hours. There was hardly any crime right now, what with everyone indoors, but there was still plenty to do.
“Hey!” Someone called. He sighed, and hurriedly stuffed the rest of his suit into his backpack before spinning around to see a police officer in his car. He’d only cracked the window slightly to talk to Peter, but with the super hearing he could still hear fine. He imagined it would be difficult for others though.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“You’re violating curfew, you gotta go home kid.” the officer said. Peter almost smacked himself in the head. He’d completely forgotten about that. What with the worldwide pandemic and all no one was supposed to leave the house if it wasn’t an emergency, and not at all after ten.
“Um…” He said. He really didn’t know where to go. He knew he couldn’t go face his aunt's body. He hadn’t known what to do after finding the note pinned to the door and her with a bullet in her head, so he’d stuffed ten or so belongings in a bag and taken off. That was two weeks ago.
“Listed, do you have a safe place to stay tonight?” He asked. Peter couldn’t think of what to say. If he was lucky the man would just give up and let him go. “Okay, it’s either you get taken into the police station, or you walk yourself over to the homeless shelter, the choice is yours.”
“Where uh,” He cleared his throat and started again. “Where is that...sir?” he asked, remembering to add ``sir '' just a second too late.
The police officer gave him a sad look, before pointing behind him. “Two blocks that way, you can’t miss it. One of the only places with its lights on this time of night.”
It was only eleven. Normally New York never sleeps.
“Will do, uh, thank you… sir?” He said.
The officer just smiled.
“Just get yourself a safe bed for the night kid,” The man said, before pulling away.
Peter gave a long sigh before turning around and walking to the bright spot several blocks away.
It was only eleven fifteen when he got there, and he already felt disoriented. He had no idea the procedure for places like these. He’d stayed in one once, but that had been with his aunt, and he’d been young enough to remain pretty ignorant to everything that was happening. The lights inside were bright. Almost aggressively so, and he found himself blinking like an idiot when he stepped inside.
He was about to look for someone in charge, or, even better, a nice sign with instructions that didn’t talk, but before he could he heard someone call his name from across the entire room. Or, almost his name.
“Hey! Penis Parker!” A voice hollered.
He already made his choice to turn tail and run out of there as fast as his feet would carry him, which, with super powers, was awfully fast, but it definitely didn’t help when he heard an all too familiar voice reprimand the girl.
“Young lady, that is not how to greet others when they- wait what did you say?” Steve asked.
Peter ripped his eyes away from the odd sight of MJ and Steve talking, only to smack his face full force into the glass door. The glass broke, and he was pretty sure his face did too.
He could now only barely hear their conversation, between a couple people fishing to fix the door and the other chatter increasing, it seemed he had walked into a dining room type area, but he could catch enough.
“Short, annoying-”
“Isn’t… avengers…”
“I think I don’t know… we all call…”
“Should… Tony…”
Great, This was great. A few moments later, he found both Steve and MJ directly above him. Steve’s face was contorted with worry, while MJ, who was sporting a black eye and split lip, just grinned at him. He stuck his tongue out on reflex, wincing when the moment disturbed his busted face. “Ow.”
“Okay, volunteer time is over.” Steve said, giving no further warning before wrapping one arm around Peters core and hoisting him up onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
He whined in protest, much to MJs amusement.
“Look, he’s mewling.” She said.
He pulled a face at her, making her boop his nose. “I’m changing your name on my phone to furious kitten.”
“Noooo.” He replied, probably not helping matters, based on her face. It was just that his head already hurt from his impromptu meet-and-greet with the glass door, and even before then he was hungry and sleep deprived.
“Okay Peter, I’m gonna call your aunt.” Steve said. He made an involuntary sound of disagreement. Steve set him down on the sidewalk several blocks away. Had they really been walking that fast or had he spaced out?
“Oooh. Didn’t she, you know,” MJ said, miming shooting her head with her hand behind Steve's back.
Peter nodded his head, keeping his eyes trained on Steve. He was pretty sure Steve couldn’t see behind him, but he wouldn’t be surprised.
He hadn’t known what to do when he first found his aunt, so he’d called the only person he’d known wouldn’t stage an intervention, or call someone who would. MJ. Her life was so screwed right now there was no way she’d rat him out.
“What? What did she do?” Steve asked. \
Thank goodness he didn’t know.
“Nuthin’.” He muttered. MJ, to her credit, also kept her mouth shut, simply walking next to him and wrapping his arm around her thin shoulders. Had he been swaying on his feet? He’d really tried to not, but who knows.
“Ugh. Fine, lets just go to your apartment and-” Steve started.
“You can’t do that!” MJ interrupted.
Steve looked at her with his most ‘I am captain america and you will respect me’ type stare. Luckly, MJ had watched enough rappin with cap videos, and read enough of their history textbook, to not take Steve seriously.
“She’s working.”
“During the pandemic?” Steve asked.
“...She’s a nurse.” MJ said.
“Fine, I guess that makes sense. Alright, lets just go get some clothing for you and then we can-”
“I don’t own clothing!” Peter blurted out.
MJ stepped on his foot. Hard.
“You don’t… own...clothing?” Steve asked. “Yeah, we're definitely going to your house now. Come on, we’re taking the subway.”
“Great job genius.” MJ whispered.
He just looked down. If they made it inside his house, they’d find his aunt, and if they found his aunt then they would know he knew, and if they knew he knew then who knew what-
“Hey, earth to Peter here,” Mj said, grabbing one of his hands. “Stop that thing with your skin, it’s wigging me out.” He’d developed the habit of scratching deep into his skin and watching it heal in seconds. It helped him ground himself, but it also freaked Mj out. “It’s gonna be fine, kay, just like… don’t open your mouth and make it worse.”
“I don’t know if I can do that. All I do is talk.” He whispered back. She nodded her head vigorously.
“Yeah, dude I know. Believe me, I know.” She whispered back.
He grinned slightly.
“But this is only going to get worse the more you open your mouth, so please, for all of our sakes, just… stay quiet.” She whispered.
He was going to say something back, but then Steve’s voice cut through their conversation. He’d moved farther away from the two teenagers, and was talking on his phone, and by the tone of his voice it wasn’t going well.
“Tony- I, what do you mean fly?” Steve asked.
Peter could barely pick up the other end of the conversation over the chatter of the subway, although it was admittedly much quieter than normal. Mostly doctors and nurses headed to or from the hospital. The city had opted to keep much of the public transportation open so people could get to or from the hospital.
Still, he could hear Mr. Stark's voice at the other end of the line. “I put rockets on your motorcycle. What did you think that button was for?”
“Well I don’t know what a rocket symbol looks like. With you it could have been cupholders.” Steve said.
“What else could that possibly be?” He heard Tony ask. “Anyway, I can’t tap into the cameras in Peties apartment.”
“What do you mean? You have cameras everywhere?” Steve said.
MJ stifled a laugh looking at the other passengers' reactions to the one sided conversation. One person adjusted their mask and turned away, as if frustrating friends were a part of this illness.
“True-”
“Even Natasha can’t find them. Do you know how annoyed she is that she can’t find them Tony? So annoyed.” He continued.
“Okay, I get it Steve, but the thing is, it’s not that there are no cameras in his room, it’s that he blocked the connection. Besides, I have Karen checking in on him.” Tony said.
“Ugh. Fine, whatever. I’ll handle this myself. Thanks for not being any help.” Steve said.
“You’re not welcome.” Tony said, hanging up.
Just in time too, the train announced their stop. MJ tapped Steve's shoulder and nodded to the exit. They filed off, along with a few wary doctors, keeping their distance from Steve. Kinda ironic, considering Steve was one of the only people in the world unable to catch this.
“Okay Peter, can you show us the way-” Steve started.
Peter felt a panic bubble in his chest. He couldn’t talk about May with them, he wasn’t ready to deal with this yet. He opened his mouth to protest, but MJ beat him to it.
“For crying out loud, let the weirdo go alone.” She said. “He’s probably got government secrets pulled up on his laptop or something and doesn't want us to see.”
“I don’t think…” Steve started.
Peter didn’t stick around to hear the rest. He pulled his mask, which had been balled in his pocket the whole time, over his head, and shot a strand of webbing at a nearby building, knowing full well he would be able to beat Steve in a race if it came to that. Luckily, when he glanced down he saw Steve talking with MJ. Neither looked happy, of course, but MJ could hold her own.
Sooner than he wanted, he was met with his familiar bedroom window. Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he slid the door open and slipped in.
0o0o0o
“Hi, is this Natasha?” He asked.
“No, wrong number.” A man with a thick Jamaican accent said.
“Oh, I’m sorry s-” He started.
“Just kidding! This is Clint, she’s… hiding.” He said. “I mean, technically I am to but I think my spot is soundproof.”
“Okay, great. Never do that again. Um, wait where are you hiding?”
“In a oven.” Clint said. “What do you need?”
“I need a favor from you two.” He said. “Peter’s been acting-”
“Strange so you want us to poke around in his apartment?” Clint asked. “Because that’s what we are doing right now.”
“Ugh. Nobody today will let me finish a sentence. Yes, poke around, tell me if you find anything relevant.” Steve said, hanging up before he could hear anything worse then what had already happened.
He stood in tense silence with MJ for a minute, before he decided to start a conversation. “So… what happened to your eye?”
“It was 3-D printed in a back alley.” she said without missing a beat. “JK. What do you think?” she asked, showing a doodle of Steve carrying Peter over his shoulder with Peter meowing.
“I’m framing that.” He said. “For real though, the eye?”
She sighed, tugging her olive green beanie over her ears a little further. “It’s a long story.”
“I’m gonna find out anyway, but it’s either I hear it from you or go though Tony’s cameras.” He said.
Normally he wouldn’t make a threat like that, but he was worried about the trouble she had gotten into.
“Well,” She started, sitting on the curb. “My parents got divorced, but the only apartment my dad could find was across the hall from my mom. They fight con-stent-ly. And my dad is running some kind of creepy underground trafficking type thing. That’s how I got into social justice.” She said, gesturing to her Black Lives Matter shirt. “And then both of my parents spiraled at the same time, and so my mom got a...hustling job and quit her work at the bank, and my dad’s house is a party 24/7. Finaly he put a one way mirror in my room and I was over it so I left.” She said.
Steve watched her face carefully as she spoke. She didn’t seem sad or scared or anything else like that as she told the story, but her fingers ran over something on her wrist over and over. To the point that he was almost worried about her wearing it out. Sensing now wouldn’t be a good time to press the issue, he changed the subject.
“What's that?” He asked, nodding at the doodle. She smiled.
“Peter drew an atom on my wrist the first time we met. I had one of my dad's friends go over it with his tattoo gun.” She said. Before he had a chance to react, she stood up, stretching, and nodded to him. “Your phones are ringing.”
Surprised, he realised it was. He fumbled to pull it out of his pocket, ignoring her laughter as he tried to swipe the accept button. “Steve Rogers.”
“Yea, I think we figured out what happened !” Clint said, his voice rising over the phone.
He sat up.
“What? What did you find?”
“May’s dead.”
“She’s what ?” Steve asked.
MJ looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. He nodded, getting the message to lower his voice.
“Well, uh, I jumped out of the oven and then Peter screamed, and then we were just talking about why he was here, and he kept, like, not talking about what we asked, and then I heard Natasha scream, and I figured we were all like, dead, and then I walked in and May was just… just like, lying there.” He said.
Steve pinched the bridge of his nose.
“How dead is she?” He asked. “Like is there any hope or-”
“She’s dead dead Steve. Me and Natasha agreed about two weeks ago. Somewhere between bloat and active decay.” Clint said.
Steve nodded like he knew what that meant, and then remembered that Clint couldn’t see him.
“I… okay. Two weeks. Okay that's uh… okay. Fine.” He said.
Two weeks. Peter had been living in an apartment with a dead body.
“Alright, we’re gonna take him back,” Clint said. “He’s… I mean… Yeah. Okay, bye.” Clint said.
Steve stared at the phone for several seconds. Finally he turned back to look at MJ, who was going through the trash.
“We’re talking about your story when we get back home.” He said, “Get your hands out of the trash. Peter’s aunt is uh-” He started.
“Dead. I know.” She said, grabbing whatever she was looking for in the bin and pocketing it before sitting back down on the curb. “Wow, the cops really aren't watching this street, are they?”
“Wait, what do you mean you know?” Steve asked.
MJ pulled an apple, which he was strongly hoping wasn’t from the trash, out and took a bite.
“Well, he was acting all weird and mopy at school, and when I tried to tease him he just got quieter. I was tired of him giving me his whole kicked puppy face… so I tracked him.” she said, leaning her weight onto her elbows.
“Tracked him how?” Steve asked.
“Well I already know he’s spiderman- stop making that face, it isn’t hard to figure out- and so I just waited in his apartment. But he never came home. I was worried so I called him. He said he’d been asleep. I triple checked everywhere in his house and then asked him where he was. He said home so I confronted him.” She said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
“Tony’s gonna love you.” He said. “Be careful, he might just recruit you.”
“Honestly I’d be fine with it.” She said surprising him. “I mean, I am opposed to massive amounts of wealth like he has, It’s one of the big things wrong with the world right now, but I see how he’s used his money, and it is actually pretty good. Between him and Peter there are three hundred thousand pounds less plastic in the ocean that is being broken down right now.” She said.
“I guess that is a good-” Steve started.
Of course, she couldn’t let him finish a sentence.
“Furthermore, shockingly his ancestors never owned slaves. Crazy right? I mean with the name and money. They migrated just after the nation's civil war from Italy, and there are no records of them ever being slave owners.” She said, tossing the core behind her shoulder into the trash can. “Plus, he’s good for Peter.”
“How so?” Steve asked, sitting next to her.
She grinned slightly.
“Well, Peter was… struggling. A lot. He’s the happiest person I’ve ever met, but he lost interest in everything. Not like he does when he gets busy with stuff, that’s different. It was like he… gave up. After he met Tony some strange part of him came back. Can’t say it’s his least annoying part, but it was good for him.” She said, shrugging. “Or maybe he’s been drugging him. Who knows.”
“Wait, you said-” Steve started.
“Whoop, looks like they’re here.” MJ said, standing up. Looking up, he did see Clint and Natasha walking around the corner, Peter trailing behind them. Peter had swung a black trash bag over his shoulder, and followed several paces behind, literally dragging his feet.
“Is that May?” Steve asked when they got closer.
Natasha gave him the most disdainful look he’s seen to date.
“It’s his clothing.” She said.
“Oh. I guess that makes sense-” He started.
Suddenly his phone rang again. He sighed in annoyance and pressed decline. Despite this the phone picked up anyway.
“Steve!” Tony said loudly on the other end.
He sighed and lifted the phone to his ear.
“Tony, why can I not decline your calls?” He asked. “That seems important.”
“Only sometimes. Listen, that's not important right now, so I'm flying back from Florida right now, but tell Peter that he has a room on my floor, directly after Bruces and the labs, and tell MJ we’ll put an extra bed in his room until we can get her her own.” Tony said. “I guess we could also just put a bigger bed in there. Maybe ask them. Okay, bye.” Tony said, hanging up before he could question how Tony figured out MJ would be staying.
“I have eyes everywhere.” His phone said, making him jump at least a foot.
“ Tony !” A voice yelled. His phone beeped and, Steve assumed, Tony left.
Steve dropped the device in his pocket, not wanting to think about what other creepy things Tony could be doing with it. Sighing, he looked at the group staring at him.
“Let's get back to the tower. Tony will be there in a minute, he’s flying back from florida.”
“In a plane?” Clint asked.
“I...assumed so. Why?”
0o0o0o
When they got back to the tower after a harrowing bus journey, including more than one person pulling weapons. Oddly enough, MJ had been the most effective in shutting that down. He was pretty sure Natasha would adopt that girl at the drop of a hat.
Tony was already back when they got there, his method of transportation forgotten, because when Peter walked in the door, he very quickly dropped his bag of clothing and hugged his mentor. Tony, to his credit, took the reaction completely in stride, hugging the teen back. After a minute, he instructed Peter to show MJ their room. Steve was going to ask if that was a bad idea, but Peter just nodded and went off. MJ followed with his clothing.
“MJ, come back in an hour. I need to talk with you.” Tony said.
Steve raised an eyebrow at that, but let it go. They waited for the teenagers to disappear down the hallway, before Natasha walked past him and handed Tony a rumpled note.
“Peter gave this to me. Said it was pinned on his door.” She said, walking over to Tony's couch and sitting on the back.
“Can I go wash the blood off me?” Clint asked.
“Please,” Tony said, waving his hand.
He stared at the note for a minute, before scowling and handing it absently to Steve to read. He tucked it in his pocket, intending to read later.
“Thats… I can’t say I expected that.” Tony said. He rubbed a hand over his eyes hard before sighing. “Alright. We’re going to contact her lawyers. If this was as premeditated as it sounds she would have contacted them about custody of Peter. Do you two know where he was staying between now and when she wrote this?” Tony asked.
“I assumed in the apartment.” Steve said.
“No. I was in there with Clint, it hadn’t been lived in.” Natasha said. “He didn’t take much with him either, maybe enough to take in a backpack, but that’s it.”
“He wasn’t with Ned,” Tony said. “Don’t look at me like that, I asked Friday on the ride over here.”
“Definitely not MJ, she’s been in the shelter for a couple days already.” Steve said.
“Great. I’m gonna go fill the lawyers in on what happened, Natasha- actually no, Steve… also no, I’ll get them clothing. Natasha, fill everyone in, Steve, either you or Bucky, make sure MJ eats something. Good? Good.”
0o0o0o
Peter sat on his bed, resting his head on his knee. MJ had been taken by Bucky over twenty minutes ago, and he had been left alone with the promise of him doing nothing but sleeping. And he had really tried to sleep, he swore, but every time he closed his eyes it was like the worst montage, with basically every traumatic event of his life flashing before his eyes, starting with the plane and ending with May, over and over again. Sighing, he rolled off his bed.
“Friday, will you turn on the lights please?” He asked. His voice sounded wrecked, even to his own ears.
“Of course Peter, would you like the overhead light or the light strips.” She asked.
“Uh, whatever… just like… any light.” he said. A moment later his room was flooded with blindingly bright light, making him cover his eyes and maybe squeak just a little.
“As I suspected. I will switch to a more comfortable lighting for you.” she said.
A second later his room was bathed in a soft blue light, allowing him to re-open his eyes.
“Thanks.” He said.
“Anytime Peter, should I alert anyone to your state?” She asked. “Sir asked me to tell him when you regained awareness, but seeing as you technically never lost it, you can choose if I should alert him.” Friday said.
He smiled a little.
“No, no thanks Fri.” He said, sighing.
“Of course.” she said.
He stood up, looking around the room he and MJ were sharing. Tony had, true to his word, added an extra twin bed, with the promise that by the end of the week MJ would be moved out. She’d just shrugged and said she couldn’t care less, which was actually a surprising lack of apathy for her. He grabbed his phone and looked over the note Aunt May had left. He’d taken a photo when he first got it, just in case something happened. He had it completely mesmerised, but still.
He closed his eyes again, snapping them back open when the images flooded his brain. He looked back up at the ceiling.
“Hey Fri?” He asked. “If I… make a video, and put it in your database, can you promise to not show it until the time I set?”
“Of course. What time would you like to set?” She asked.
“Tomorrow. Tomorrow morning. Please.” He said.
She made a loading noise, before beeping.
“Time set. Would you like to use the camera Tony has installed to film your video, or has it already been recorded?” Friday asked.
“His camera. Please.” Peter said. Two seconds later, a front facing camera popped up, clearly from some kind of hologram. “Uh, how do I start it?”
“It’s already started Peter, would you like me to end and restart the video?” Friday asked.
“Ugh. No, whatever I’ll just… okay.” He said, rubbing his face with his hand.
He absently noticed how badly his hands were shaking. Great. He’d probably look like a wreck in the film. Not that it mattered.
“Okay, uh, hey guys.” He said, watching himself wave.
Stupid way to start this video.\
“So um, I…”
He looked at the note on his phone again, gritting his teeth.
“At this point you will have probably figured out that basically everyone I know dies.” He said, trying desperately to smooth out his words. “Like everyone. Or I end up ruining their life some other way. Like Liz. Uh, only MJ will get that one, but it uh, it makes sense in context I guess. The point is I…” He racked a hand through his hair, trying hard to keep himself calm, if only for appearances sake.
“I really like all of you, and you are all important people, but with May dead uh… there isn’t really anyone but you guys left to die and I really don’t want that to happen so… yeah. I guess if you see this you know what I am planning on doing. Okay, um… bye.” He said.
Friday closed the video.
“Anything else you need sir?” she asked.
“Can you get me someone's number?” He asked.
“Of course, who would you like to call?” She asked.
“Nick Fury.”
“Nick Fury has been added as a contact in your phone.” Friday said. “Anything else?”
“No. Thanks Friday.” He said.
“My pleasure.”
He tapped the new contact, vaguely appreciating that it had come with a picture. The phone rang three times before Fury picked up.
“Who is this and what do you want?”
“Hi Mr. Fury. It’s Pe- Spiderman. Can I talk to you for a minute? I promise it’s important.”
0o0o0o
“Tony we are talking about your control issues today or so help me -” Sam yelled.
Tony just laughed, dodging the annoyed man’s gaze by ducking behind something in his lab that he didn’t even fully understand.
“Sorry, I’m very busy doing anything else.” He said.
Fury had been tired of doing paperwork for them and had assigned them mandatory quarterly mental health analysis. Sam, who had done them so that SHIELD wouldn’t have to spend any money, had concluded that everyone on this team was ‘deep fried in trauma’.
“Tony-”
“Sir and Mr. Wilson, I request your attention.” Friday said. “A call still in progress has been flagged for containing several of the trigger words in my database. Would you like to listen to it from the beginning?”
“See, this is what I was talking about-” Sam started.
“Who made the call?” Tony asked, interrupting Sam.
“Peter Parker made a call at 11:57, eight minutes ago, to Nick Fury. Would you like to listen to it from the beginning?”
“Yes.” He said. Sam made a face behind him, but didn’t interfere.
“Who is this and what do you want?” Fury's voice said through the speakers.
“Hi mr. Fury, It’s Pe- Spiderman. Can I talk to you for a minute? I promise it’s important.”
“Why on earth are you calling me? It is way too late for avengers stuff. Go to bed and then don’t call me tomorrow either, I would be happy to not hear from you again. Goodnight.” Fury said.
Tony furrowed his brow at the harsh tone. It was definitely late, but Peter sounded like a wreck, even without context. He idly wondered why he hadn’t been alerted to Peter waking up.
“I know I know, I’m really sorry it won’t happen again but…” Tony looked at Sam, who seemed to be listening just as intently to the audio. “ If I were to… die, how would that affect the team. Would it make your life a lot harder?”
“Why is he asking that?” Tony wondered out loud.
Sam shushed him.
“Why? Are you thinking about killing yourself or something? Some kind of stupid self sacrificial type suicide? I’m not discouraging it, It seems in keeping with you.” Fury said.
Tony’s mouth dropped open.
“Maybe- it doesn't matter, how hard would I be to replace?” Peter asked.
“Pretty damn easy. Other people out there have superpowers, and the team barely knows you. Have you figured out how you plan to do this? I don’t need a big public-”
“Friday, mute.” Sam said.
Tony turned to glare at his friend.
“What the hell? What was that for?” He asked. “There might have been important information in that call.”
“Right now someone needs to go check on Peter-” Sam said.
His sentence was interrupted by a shrill sounding alarm.
“What's that?”
Tony froze, he felt like his heart had actually dropped into his stomach. “That’s the suicide alarm.”
0o0o0o
Peter woke up in a hospital room, greeted with the sight of Wanda sitting next to his bed. He winced at the light, which felt about equivalent to a million tiny swords stabbing his eyes at once.
“Oh good. So you awake.” Wanda said, raising an eyebrow.
“Hiiiiii.” He said. “What uh, what happened?”
“You remember,”She said. “Peter, I have had another brother die before, Pietro. Maybe is a cursed name. I make sure that never happens to you.” she said. “I will show you what would happen if you go through all the way. Understood?” she asked.
“Wha- no! No I do not! Where is everyone else?” He asked. She grinned.
“With Fury. Me, MJ and Bruce stayed here. Bruce said something about ‘too tired to handle that’ and MJ and me were forbidden. Lets begin, shall we?”
0o0o0o
“Hi, Fury.” Bucky said, handing Steve the rope. “Did you know that Tony records all calls made in the stark tower?”
“What are you doing?” Fury asked, struggling as Steve tightened the rope. “Why do creeps keep waking me up in the middle of the night?”
“In fact, you can hear every. Single. Word. spoken on a call. Not much room for deniability there, is there?” Bucky asked. Steve tugged extra hard on the rope. Bucky put a hand on his shoulder, not wanting to actually kill Fury. Yet, anyway.
“Will someone tell me what's going on?” He asked.
“Does this call sound familiar to you?” Steve said, hitting the play button on his phone.
“It… would really be that easy to replace me? Just like that?”
“Of course. Plenty of weirdo mutints crawling around here. Lucky for you no one on the team knows you yet.”
“Oh,”
“Well, you have the green light from me, spiderman. Can’t blame you for wanting to die, I would probably if I had your life. Won’t talk with you later.” Steve stopped the recording and Fury closed his eyes.
“Yes, that is the call I made with Spiderman an hour or two ago, why do you care?” Fury said. “I stand by what I said, the team doesn't know the kid all that well, it would not be a huge loss to anyone if he-”
“Okay, you know what, screw this,” Steve said, swinging a solid punch on Furys shoulder.
Bucky and Steve had very different fighting styles. Steve operated on basically brute strength (even when he didn’t have any) whereas Bucky had always been sneakier.
“Steve, we need to make this look like an accident.” Bucky said.
“You’re right. Thinking what I am?” Steve asked. Bucky nodded, which is how he then ended up throwing Fury down the stairs.
“Clints turn!” They yelled.
-----
Clint, after carrying a cursing Fury tied to a chair, finally sat cross legged in front of the bastard.
“You should have known after Tony, Fury.” He said, slowly taking his supplies out of his bag. “I could do a million things to make you hurt you know, I have just as much knowledge, and almost as much skill, as Natasha. But I don’t want to do that.”
“Let me guess, you want to hold hands and skip over the rainbow bridge together? Because apparently Peter could keep you company when you do that.” Fury spat.
“Do you know what Peter did after that conversation, Nick?” He asked. “He slashed his radial artery lengthwise. If he wasn’t a superhero he wouldn’t have survived the blood loss.” He said, quickly inserting the needle into Furys arm. “So you are going to donate blood.”
“Like hell I am. I’m having all of you arrested once this is over.” Fury said, faking a yawn.
“No you aren't. Fury, do you know how to kill someone by skinning them alive? I bet not, let me explain.”
----
“Sam, your friends are psychos.” Fury said as soon as Sam entered the room.
“What the hell Fury. Do you know how old spiderman is? Or his name? Where did he grow up? The kid’s 15 and was scared out of his mind. He’s still grieving his aunt, who, by the was, just died, he’s-”
“Are you planning on beating me up to, or is this a yelling only thing?” Fury said.
“No, I was planning on it, but now that I think about it, I don’t really want to spend the time,” He said, spitting on his face.
----
“Fury. Я заставлю тебя страдать до конца моей жизни и твоей” Fury, I will make you suffer for the rest of my life and yours.
“Damn it Black Widow, you know I don’t speak Russian.” Fury spat.
“Грязная ошибка” Dirty mistake . She spat at him, before removing a tiny, tiny metal pill, almost the size of a toy battery, and stepped closer to him.
“I am going to assume you do not know what this is,” She said, allowing the Russian to slip through her voice. “It is a mercury tablet. You are going to take one, once a month until we are both dead. Do not worry, there is not enough to kill you, only harm you forever.” she said. He opened his mouth to speak and she darted.
Quickly she placed the pill on his tongue before wrapping her hands around his mouth and nose, speaking quickly as she did. “Peter is one of the best people on this planet, and you helped harm him, to your knowledge, to kill him. Do not think this will be the only consequence. I am coming back for you Fury.”
He swallowed the pill and she let go, smacking him hard across the face before turning around and leaving him there.
----
Loki hadn’t planned on cursing anyone when he came down to earth, but Fury deserved it.
“See, every time he sneezes a hundred dollors are taken from his checking account and given to Crisis Connections in Seattle, plus ten to a homeless shelter for men, women , children and animals.” Loki explained as he drew the magic from the air, weaving the tendrils carefully.
“That's surprisingly thoughtful.” Steve said, wrapping his hand where he had split his knuckles.
“Oh, he also shits himself.”
----
Tony stocked into Fury’s bedroom and slammed the door hard enough to make the doorframe splinter. He whipped around, seeing the doorframe wrecked. At least one good thing might come out of this visit.
“Tony, to be honest, I have been dealing with your friends all day, and I just don’t have the energy for-” Fury started.
Tony grabbed a knife left on the stand and sliced through the ropes in one movement, before throwing a rag at his face and some cheap bottle of alcohol.
“Clean your face up.” he said. Fury raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. “Listen you asshole, every second I am here, the kid we are here for is sitting alone in a medbay, being kept company by one tramitized girl and a twenty something woman with creepy brain powers and enough emotional baggage to knock you out.” He said.
“So leave.” Fury said. “I don’t care.”
“Exactly. You don’t care. You have never cared about the avengers, even when Steve and everyone else came over here and yelled at you already.” Tony said calmly, picking up a much more expensive bottle of alcohol and poured himself a generous amount in a glass.
“So? What do you want me to do about it? Play a team building exercise and dance a jig?” He said.
“No, I’m going to give you a reminder about how powerful the team ‘under your control’ really is.” He said. “See this?” He asked, holding up the tiny chip to the dim light.
“It looks like your confidence, what about it?” Fury said.
“Ha, after I implant this I will probably deserve that. This chip,” He said, retaining it, “Has enough poison to kill four grown elephants,” He said. “High quality, pretty expensive to make too. I’d only want the best for you.” He said.
“That’s illegal,” Fury said, seeming actually fazed for once.
“You know I own the government, right?” He said. “Should be illegal. But don’t worry, I'm not gonna put it in your arm, what fun would that be? Arm’s aren't necessary, and they are fleshy. Easy to live without. Your brain however,” He said, placing a hand under Fury’s chin and tilting his head up, “Much more important.”
“You are all insane!” Fury said, before Tony chloroformed him.
“Oh, it controls your bladder too. Enjoy.”
0o0o0o
“Tony, I can not, in good conscious, allow you to go talk to Peter right now.” Sam said, eyeing his friend.
Tony had been pacing around the hallway while other teammates talked with Peter, sipping his ‘water’ (his words) and muttering to himself. He locked his eyes on Sams when he spoke.
“I need to talk to him Sam.” He said.
“I understand, but I don’t think that would be good for either of you.” Sam said. “Look we just had a big… thing with Fury, why not go to bed, sleep or whatever is in your system, and come back to talk to Peter tomorrow. I’m sure he will still be here.” Sam said. Tony raised his eyebrows in a way that made Sam want to turn around and run. Tony was nothing if not a good businessman.
“Oh, you’re sure are you? Because we were all pretty sure he would be fine when he ‘went to bed’ and now he’s on the medbay.” Tony said. “In fact, I could go on for hours about all the things we were sure about that backfired spectacularly.”
“I just don’t think-” Sam started.
“You are letting Bucky do… whatever the hell it is that they are doing right now! Do you really think what I have to say would be worse than that?” He asked, gesturing to Bucky and Steve behind the glass wall. Sam turned his attention to the pair, talking to a very scared looking Peter.
“...Which is when you realise that all your thoughts are worthless, so you can throw out everything that that voice in your head-” Bucky's voice said, seemingly patched through Friday.
“Bucky!” Sam yelled, throwing the door open. “No! I mean, no to you too Steve, but Bucky, NO. Out, both of you.” He said. “How did this even happen? I gave you a script!”
“Well Steve was being all boring and stiff, so I started riffing and…” Bucky said.
“Whatever, I don’t want to hear it. Nat, you can go if you want to.” He said. Tony glared at him. He did actually intend on letting Tony talk, he just wanted him to calm down a little first.
“Great.” she said, cracking her knuckles.
“Wait, I am sitting in.” He said.
She glared at him.
“Oh come on, after Wanda can you blame me?”
“I guess not.” She said.
Sighing, he followed her inside.
“Peter,” She said, sitting on the very edge of his bed.
He swore he saw Peter back away a little. This was gonna be rough.
“Hi Ms. Natasha.” He said. “Um, you still have a little blood on your face.” He said.
Huh, Sam hadn’t noticed that.
“Peter, the third, and final, time the Red Room made me kill my parents, I vowed to myself I would never, ever, form any attachments to them, because in the end, all that would happen is they would be used against me.” She said. Sam raised his eyebrows. He had definitely not expected her to say anything like that. “And if I am correct, you feel similarly. However, you believed the best solution was to kill yourself, not everyone else, my preferred oath.”
Peter nodded a little.
“Do you know how that worked out for me? I’ll tell you. I was somewhere between 18 and 22, and killing innocent, or vaguely innocent, people like I had been instructed, and a idiot, and I mean, lowest IQ out there, a real Козел,” Sam didn’t understand the russion, but Peter laughed, “And that Козел decided to make it so, so easy for me to kill him just then. And so this weirdo, with too much hair gel, just stuck onto me. Here we are, too many years later, and I still can’t get rid of him.”
“You are talking about Clint, right?” Peter asked.
“What tipped you off, the idiot or the чрезмерное использование геля?” overused gel She asked. “The point is, no matter what I did, I couldn’t kill him, and trust me, I was thorough. So I decided, if I couldn’t kill him, maybe no one else could. So one attachment was fine.” She said.
“Okay…”Peter said.
“And then I walked into the tower one day, and your Перхоть подзалупная ( just know its a bad insult) self was sitting on the sofa stuttering to Bruce about the scientific papers you had read about him. And when I tried to sneak up on you, what did you do?” She asked.
“I turned around to say hi?” Peter asked.
“Exactly. Not one person on earth has ever been able to do that before. So in the end, attachments are inevitable, especially for someone like you, what you need to do is just accept that you will know people, and they will die, and then you will meet new people.” She said. Peter nodded stiffly.
“Okay…” He said.
“And if you ever think about trying anything like that again I will personally be sure to murder every. Single. Person. On this team in the slowest and most terrifying ways I know how. Don’t think I won’t.” She said, turning to leave.
“Natasha, we are talking about this next time I see you!” Sam said.
“Чтоб у тебя хуй во лбу вырос!” May a dick grow on your forehead She replied.
He looked to Peter for translation, but Peter was too busy looking horrified.
“Alright, fine. Tony, you can talk to him.” Sam said, surrendering.
0o0o0o
Peter shifted in the bed as he watched his mentor walk the short length of the windowed hall and wing open the door. Either Sam really trusted Tony, or, more likely, he had given up. Tony also sat on the edge of Peter's bed, although he looked far less rigid than Natasha had, and stared at him.
“...Hi Mr. Stark.” He said finally.
“Peter Benjamin Parker, what the hell were you thinking?” Tony finally asked.
Peter lowered his eyes, not wanting to meet his mentor's gaze.
“Seriously, I want to know.”
“I… I was thinking that… well… I just…” He said. He could feel the tears he had somehow managed to avoid until now building up in his throat. “I just didn’t want you guys to get hurt because of me.”
“Peter- hey, eye contact, we’ve talked about this,” Tony said.
They had actually, he hated it.
“We all have incredibly dangerous jobs, and we will probably get hurt during them, there is even, and I know you don’t like to think about this, but there is even a possibility one of us would die, but you know what?” He asked.
Peter shook his head, not at all trusting his voice right now.
“You have saved all of our lives, and I’m not just talking about during fights. I know what Wanda showed you, she, believe it or not, agreed to let me see some of it, and as awful as it was, I am 100% sure it’s true.” tony said. “I know I for one wouldn’t be alive right now if you hadn’t decided to walk on in here.” He said.
“Didn’t… didn’t you recruit me?” Peter asked.
“Eh, details. Plus, I knew your aunt, maybe not as well as you, but I still knew her, and I can guarantee you don’t want to go to heaven because of your own actions, she’d punt you straight down to hell.”
Peter laughed a little at that, because honestly, it sounded plausible.
“Thanks.” He said, wincing at the waver in his voice.
“Don’t thank me, just don’t ever do it again, alright? We still have Bucky to deal with.” He said, making Peter laugh a little more.
Tony hugged him, before whispering. “I’m going to leave and send MJ in here, okay? Hold onto your spidey suit too because even I’m scared of her. And I live with Natasha.”
Tony left shortly after and, true to his word, MJ came in. She looked like she had been crying for a long time, and when Peter waved at her, she just started crying again.
“...Sorry?” He said.
“You are an idiot Penis.” she said, still refusing to call him by his real name.
“Yeah, I know.” He said.
Before he had time to give an explanation of any kind, she grabbed his face and kissed him before running back out.
“Uh.” He said. “Friday, did I just imagine that?”
“No sir, I do not believe you did.” Friday said. “The footage has been saved in three sepret files.”
“Huh.” He said, smiling.
He felt himself getting tired again, a side effect of superhealing, and could just barely make out the noises from the hallway.
“....Bucky...Corona...No, something something, toilet.”
Sounded like home.
fin.