Chapter Text
You groaned as your best friend pressed a cold cloth to your forehead. Gwen had always been, in your words, a ‘mom friend.’ You eventually pushed her worried hands away.
“Gwen,” you complained, “seriously, I’m fine!”
She scoffed, “I don’t think taking a baseball to the head counts as ‘fine,’ but whatever. I’m going to get some food. Want anything?”
“Surprise me,” you shrugged. “Whatever you bring me can’t be worse than this place’s mystery meat, if you can even call it that.”
“Well,” chuckled Gwen, “luckily for you, I’m going to the pizza place down the street. Be back in a few!”
“Thank you!” you called, watching as she disappeared through the door of your blindingly white hospital room.
“Yep!” she replied.
Finally alone, you reached out for a TV remote, trying to come up with a million ways to hunt down the stranger who had struck with a baseball in Central Park that afternoon. Fortunately for them, you probably wouldn’t have much luck doing so. New York was home to millions of people, after all.
The TV didn’t have very many options for entertainment, forcing you to settle on a rerun of the first Star Wars movie. As you tried your best to settle into the itchy sheets of your hospital bed, you furrowed your eyebrows at a sudden commotion in the hallway.
Suddenly, your door burst open! In a startling flash of red and blue, you were staring into the masked eyes of a very familiar vigilante. The nurses tried to apologize, but you waved them off.
“You’re good. I can handle this one,” you said.
Though they were hesitant, the nurses eventually disappeared. They closed the door behind them, allowing you to finally glare at the hero in front of you. Spider-Man dangled upside-down from the ceiling by a single web until you signaled for him to come down.
“What are you doing here?!” you demanded. “Are you nuts?!”
The hero then ripped his mask off. Before you stood none other than your ex-boyfriend, Peter Parker. His brown eyes were filled with worry as he ignored your question, deciding to ask his own instead.
“Are you okay?!”
You rolled your eyes when he placed his palms against your cheeks, closely examining your face for any injuries. All he found, however, was a darkening bruise on your left temple. You tried not to sigh at the feeling of the fabric his suit was made of.
“Yes!” you glared, finally snapping to your senses. You then grabbed his wrists and ripped away his soft hands. “Why are you even here?”
“The hospital called me!” he exclaimed. “They told me you were here! I needed to check on you!”
You narrowed your eyes in confusion. Finally, after a moment, you put the pieces together, and chuckled, “You’re still my emergency contact.”
Peter furrowed his eyebrows, taking a seat next to you on the bed, and asked, “Huh?”
“You’re my emergency contact,” you repeated, “from when we were... you know... dating.”
“Oh,” he said, glancing down at his twiddling thumbs. “You’re all right then?”
“Yes,” you chuckled, “so you can go back to vandalizing the city with your webs now.”
Peter looked at the ceiling, immediately spying a bundle of webs from where he had been dangling when he first came into the room. He flushed with embarrassment and scratched the back of his neck with an awkward expression.
“Right,” he said. “I’ll clean that up.”
You watched as he collected the webs and disposed of them. He then returned to his place next to you.
“Peter?”
“Yeah?”
“You can go now.”
He looked startled by that, “Go?”
“Yeah,” you nodded. “I’ll tell them to change my emergency contact to Gwen when I check out tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“How are you one of the smartest people I know?” you sighed. “Yes, tomorrow! They want to keep me overnight so they can make sure I don’t have a concussion.”
“A concussion?!” he exclaimed. “What happened?!”
“Peter—!”
He glared at you, “And I’m not leaving until you tell me!”
“Fine!” you huffed. “Just shut up, please! I have a major headache right now and you’re not helping.”
He nodded with a sudden expression of apology. You sighed, reveling in the moment of peaceful quiet.
“Some guy hit me with a baseball in the park—”
Your eyes flew open at the sound of Peter snorting. He turned away, trying his best to cover his mischievous grin. You scoffed and felt a smile of your own taking over your face.
“You are such a jerk!”
Peter chuckled when you gave his shoulder a light shove, “I’m sorry... but you have to admit, that is really funny.”
“Get out!”
“No! No! No!” exclaimed Peter, wrapping his hand around one of your own. “I swear I won’t laugh anymore, all right?! I swear!”
Feeling the fabric of his suit against your skin as his thumb gently stroked the back of your hand, you allowed him to continue holding it. The two of you fell into silence. The only voice in the room was that of Leia Organa as she insulted Han Solo.
Then, ever so slowly, Peter began to lean closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer—
In a flash, he pulled away, put on his mask, and stood up from your bedside, both of you watching as the door opened to reveal Gwen returning with your pizza. She paused in the doorway to stare wide-eyed between you and Peter.
Your ex-something cleared his throat, giving you an awkward bow as he said, “I’ll see you around, I guess.”
“Yeah,” you replied. “See ya.”
Peter gave Gwen a nod as he squeezed past her. She then returned her attention to you. Another groan fell from your lips as a smirk spread across her face.
“Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”