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“And then I said, revolver? I hardly know her!” Peter almost chokes on his hot dog when trying not to laugh at the terrible joke, lest he encourage Wade to make even worse ones. The merc seemed in much higher spirits than yesterday, the memory of his cold body lying there still flashing behind Peter’s eyes. It had been a good patrol so far, Wade hadn’t maimed or stabbed a single petty criminal. It had been pretty nice in all honesty, the dynamic duo now perched on a rooftop much taller than the one yesterday while Peter shovels food into his face (that Wade had paid for! Benefits of rich mercenary friends) looking out towards the city. Peter let DP’s rambling fade into the background as he looked out across the city.
Deadpool had really started to grow on him, Peter had been warned by a few of the other Avengers that Deadpool ‘wasn’t to be trusted’ and ‘probably very crazy, kid’ but he didn’t really care about any of that. They were probably jealous that he much preferred the company of a solo hero to their stupid government program. SHEILD was a mess of lies and desperate attempts to figure out his identity and collect his DNA, whereas Wade couldn’t care less about his real name and face, and tried his absolute best to protect Peter’s DNA in a way that could only come from personal experience, even if he didn’t know much about Wade’s past. Aside from the heavy stuff, he just liked the mercenary’s company, none of the other heroes enjoyed playful banter as much as Deadpool, and despite all of the killing and the voices he really did trust Wade to have his back in a fight.
The night sky was a deep purple, this had to be the best hotdog in NYC like no seriously how does Wade always know the right place to eat, he turned towards Wade who had apparently stopped regaling his recent fight with Colossus and was just, looking, at him.
“Do I have food in my teeth or something?” said Peter, feeling a little uncomfortable under the spotlight. “What’s with the staring DP?”
“Oh Petey-pie,” Peter winced, he should have seen the nicknames coming, instant regret at confessing his name, “nothings wrong. I just like looking at ya. I’m surprised you told me your name yesterday, you’re usually so funny about your identity.” Wade continued, eyeing him up from under the mask.
“Well it’s just a first name, not like I gave you the whole tragic backstory, and – it’s not like you can say anything Mr business cards with your full name and phone number!” Peter raises his voice a little, feeling defensive. Wade just throws his head back and laughs.
“What would they even do to me if I had a secret identity? Kill me? Good luck to them. Kill my friends?! Who’s gonna be friends with this ugly mug? Easiest place to hide is in plain sight” The tone was light but the loneliness under the surface made Peter’s chest ache. He was really starting to like Wade and he hated the way he talked about himself.
Wait.
He was starting to like Wade. As a friend rather than an annoying co-worker. The Wade that knows his first name and has seen half his face and has saved his life more times in the last few months than he can count, the murderer for money Wade Wilson whose body he had watched reanimate itself just last night. God he was fucked. “I’m your friend Wade.”
Wade always looked comically shocked when someone was nice to him. “Thanks, Webs.” The moment got awkward. God where was all this crazy feelings talk coming from. Why was he so desperate to tell Wade what he meant to him. Is this some sort of late onset spider symptom? He shook his head and stood up, putting a hand out to help Deadpool up, admiring the mans far larger frame as he got up.
“Let’s go one more round and I’ll drop you off at your apartment, I’m beat, and I have work tomorrow.” Wade leans in over the top of him, tilting his head down to make eye - mask? – contact, is it hot in this suit or is it just him.
“Spidey! You know if you’re strapped for cash you can come see daddy Deadpool and he’ll sort you out, for a price,” Christ he could hear the suggestion in Wade’s voice, the damn flirt. He walks over to the ledge of the building and gets ready to jump over to the next. The power and effort that Deadpool puts into parkouring around the city nearly makes Peter jealous, knowing that what Wade has is all hard work and technique, whereas Spiderman just has dumb luck and superpowers.
They leap from roof to roof and listen out for anything out of the ordinary from the city. Stopping a small carjacking by just making enough noise to scare the poor guy off, who tripped and took off faster than Spiderman could start the ‘I’m not mad just disappointed speech’
“You should have seen his face when you dropped down behind him Webs! Comedy gold” Wade was bent over wheezing “I think he pissed himself! You’re such a scary little spider.” Peter smiled despite his annoyance at letting the guy go with no stern talking to, Wade could really make him laugh no matter the situation.
He really was just letting his whole guard down around the red and black leathered menace. Peter mused as he swung through the city to one of Deadpool’s many swanky safehouses, watching him flip over rooftops and pay absolutely zero attention, talking animatedly with something in his head – probably the boxes that Wade had mentioned a few times – and letting his guard down was a bad thing. Deadpool had stopped killing, which was his goal, so why was he so reluctant to go back to patrolling solo? Why did he want to spend even more time with the merc instead? Shaking his head Peter flipped onto the roof of Wade’s apartment building and waited for him to catch up. The reasoning he always used to keep others away – to prevent them finding out about his identity or getting hurt – was kind of useless around Wade, as Deadpool and Spiderman are pretty well known friends at this point and it’s not like any of his enemies could actually kill Wade.
There was still something holding him back from the full identity reveal though. Maybe it was the fact that Deadpool knew Spiderman and adored him, flirted with him all the time and really respected him. Would taking off the mask make Wade treat him like a kid the same way the Avengers do? Or would he be disappointed at plain old nerdy Peter Parker under the mask? Maybe he wanted Wade to know and like Peter before he let on his secret identity.
A terrible idea popped into Peter’s head at the exact same time Deadpool comes crashing onto the roof, clearly underestimating the jump and landing flat on his back at Peter’s feet.
“Sorry to drop this on you – heh – but I do believe this is my stop” Wade was definitely grinning under his mask despite the breathlessness, something about running over New York in the dead of night was so exhilarating. Wade gets up, mimes brushing some dirt off himself and turns to Spidey. “Night Webs! This rotten avocado has to get his beauty sleep,” he leans in to give Peter a hug, god he smells good – like leather and gun oil, and jumps off the building onto the fire escape stairs. Peter waits for the sound of crashing and swearing as he trips around his dark apartment and smiles to himself, swinging away. He likes Wade and he’s going to try and get to know him out of costume, if Wade falls for old Parker, then he really could be the one for him.
Oh yeah, it's all coming together, there's no way this plan could go haywire. At. All