Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun was shining. The birds were chirping, and-

[Dumbass, we’re in New York City. What kind of fucking birds would be ‘chirping’ outside of the window?]

{Pigeons do chirp, ya know!}

-Wade Wilson awoke to the sound of his boxes arguing. Most people would probably be concerned about that last part, but it was normal for the infamous Deadpool. Having slept in his costume last night, he just crawled out of bed and stumbled blearily out of his room. Normally, he would be sleeping until noon, but he had a job to complete today, and he would have to get it done in time for tonight or the others would kill him.

[Not like you don’t do a good enough job at that by yourself.]

“Jeez. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.” Wade commented, rubbing his eyes with a yawn. He grabbed his gear, placing his katanas in their sheaths, and grabbing his guns.

{At least you didn’t forget this time.}

“Hey! I don’t forget that often!” Wade protested, throwing open his window and climbing through it to the fire exit, which he then took to the roof. 

[And which out of all three of you holds the record for how long it took for you to arrive after forgetting?]

“Okay, to be fair, I only beat Peter’s record by like five minutes, and that’s because I was fighting Wolverine!” He ran across the roofs to the docks, where his target hid.

[More like because you decided to throw hands with him.]

“Because he was looking at me weird!”

{He looks at everyone weird!}

Wade paused as his phone rang. “Oh, it’s Peter.” He stopped to answer it. “Hey, baby boy.” 

“Hey, Wade,” Peter said. “I’m just calling to make sure you’ll be on time tonight since it’ll be the first time in six months we get to hang out with Percy.” 

“I know, but this job won’t take that long. I’ll be totally there on time. I promise.” 

“I’m holding you to that. See you tonight.”

“See you!”

{You will most definitely be late.}

“No, I won’t!” Wade shot back, throwing his phone back into his pocket and taking off toward the docks again. He had a job to complete, and he would not be late. 

[20$ says he ends up late.]

{Bet.}

“Oh, ye of little faith.” With that, he burst into the warehouse and started killing the dumbasses trying to protect his target. “This isn’t going to end well for you!” He cheerfully informed them, cutting off one of their heads. He dodged a couple of bullets, laughing as he shot back. 

Within half an hour, he had killed all his target’s lackeys and had his gun pressed against his target’s head. “Nighty night!” He pulled the trigger. 

The guy fell to the floor, dead. 

“Ha, and see! It’s only 3 pm! I still have plenty of time to make it-! Fuck!” He swore as more lackeys swarmed the building. 

He lifted his gun. 

“Guys! What is this for?” Wade tried reasoning since he really didn’t want to be late. “I just killed your boss! You don’t have to fight anymore-! Fuck!” He swore again, dodging a bullet and ducking for cover. He pulled out his katanas.

[That never works. You know that never works!]

{So, uh…who’s gonna tell Peter?}

“Alright, you asked for this.” He snarled, lunging at the lackeys with his katanas outstretched.

Halfway across the country, in California, Acheron yawned, stepping out of the shower. Toweling his hair dry, he pulled on a clean pair of pants. 

In his spare duffle bag, he threw his soot and blood-covered gear. His sheathed steel sword and dual handguns were tossed in as well, along with the rest of his gear. 

As he re-entered the bathroom, in the mirror behind him, the reflection of a dark and angry brand covering his whole back briefly appeared. 

The brand of a traitor . 

Before turning to check his appearance in the mirror, he threw on a clean shirt, hiding it. As he turned to glance at the mirror, dark sea-green eyes studied his own appearance. The symbol of Hades flashed at him as he put his necklace back on. 

Leaving the bathroom, he packed up the last of his clothes into the other duffle bag.  There wasn’t much to pack up.

After a sweep, he deemed the rental place clean and emptied. Before leaving, he sent a text to the others, letting them know that he was officially done with this job and on his way back to New York.

Grabbing his duffle bags, he shadow-traveled to his townhouse in New York City. Not even sparing a glance at the cold and empty home, he threw his duffle bags on the floor. He stepped back into the shadows again, reappearing in Peter’s apartment. Specifically in Peter’s lab. 

“Boo!” Percy Jackson shouted, jumping out of the shadows behind Peter, trying to scare him. 

Yet, Peter didn’t even react. Not even looking, he shot a web at Percy from his web shooter on instinct.

Percy tried dodging it but his delayed reaction time due to sleep deprivation hindered him, and he got hit. “Damn..I’ll get you next time, Parker.” He grumbled, sitting up, his legs stuck to the floor.

“Uh, huh. Sure. Whatever you say, champ.” Peter replied sarcastically, standing up from his chair with a spare dagger in hand. Carefully, he cut Percy free and helped him up, before wrapping Percy in his arms and hugging him for a solid moment.

After a bit, Peter pushed Percy to sit in his chair. While Peter just leaned against his desk and turned to face Percy. “So, how’d it go?”

“All good. Took me a bit to completely wipe out the cartel the client requested removal of, but I eventually managed...with the help of a fire or two.” Percy replied with a cheeky grin at the look Peter threw him.

“Do you need medical?” Peter asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Does it look like I need medical?” Percy retorted, crossing his arms, his reaction time still a tad slower than usual.

“Looks like you need a nap.”

 “True.” Percy agreed with a yawn.

Peter smiled softly at him, “Why don’t you head upstairs? The guest room is all set up for you.”

“Okay. Wake me up when Wade gets here.”

“Will do.” 

Deciding to be lazy, Percy melted into the shadows and reappeared in the guest bedroom. He collapsed into it, not even taking his shoes off. A couple of minutes later, he was asleep, a smile on his face. 

Back downstairs, Peter groaned. “He could at least take the stairs if he didn’t want to make himself even more tired.” Since he was standing up, he decided to grab a monster out of the mini-fridge before sitting back down. 

His lab was massive and well-stocked, looking more like a chemist’s lab than an engineer’s lab. Chemistry was always more of his specialty. 

Since he owned the entire apartment building, he just renovated it so that his lab was directly beneath his actual apartment and easily accessible. Seeing that he didn't use the rest of the building, he decided to rent out the other apartments. Keeping to himself, he made a nice chunk of change. 

Peter went back to tinkering with his web shooters, testing out the retractable poisonous stingers to make sure they worked properly. Sometimes, they got stuck, and he didn’t want to accidentally poison one of the others because they malfunctioned. There was a reason he always carried an antidote on him now.

His laptop pinged, and he checked his email. Peter hummed in interest. There was a potential client asking the Black Spider to hack into Stark Industries for some company secrets. He sent them an estimate for his services.

“Stark Industries. Wonder how Stark is doing.” Peter muttered to himself, lost in thought.

His phone rang and broke his train of thought. Peter stared at it, annoyed. Then he sighed, picking it up. “This better be a-Hi, Peter. I’m on my way and everything is good, Peter. No issues here, Peter-kinda call.”

He could hear Wade laugh nervously, “Well, about that-”

Peter put his face in his hands. “What happened?”

“Well, I killed my target and all his goons, so I thought I was done, but then a shit ton more goons popped out after I killed their boss and tried killing me, even though I told them it was a bad idea and-” Wade rambled.

“Well then, you’re in luck.” Peter interrupted. “Percy just passed out in the guest room. While he sleeps, you can go pick up takeout by yourself, and then head to my apartment by yourself.” Peter said, emphasizing the words ‘by yourself.’

“...Yeah okay.” Wade conceded. “What do you want?”

“Go get Dominos. Percy loves pizza. You know our usuals.” With that, Peter hung up and sighed. “I warned him about taking a job today but nooo, Deadpool can do anything. Deadpool can totally finish it on time. There won’t be any issues Peter.” He said deadpan, leaning back in his chair and fiddling with a screwdriver. 

Halfway across the city, Wade sighed as the call ended.

[Told you. Gimme my $20.]

{Push over.}

“Do you really want to face an upset Peter Parker without a food bribe?”

{...}

[…]

“Exactly.”

About an hour later, Wade knocked on Peter’s front door with a large stack of pizza boxes in hand. He already had part of his mask pulled up to reveal his mouth.

Percy opened the door with a grin. “Hey there. Heard you got in trouble with the missus and had to bring a bribe to not upset her.”

There was a faint and offended “Hey!” that came from inside.

“Guilty as charged.” Wade smiled apologetically as he opened his arms. 

Percy snorted then went in for the hug.

“Hey, be careful.” Wade warned sarcastically, “My life depends on whether or not this food makes it in.” Despite his words, he closed his arms around Percy and held him tight.

They stood there for a couple of minutes before Percy stepped back. “We better get inside before the food gets cold, or Peter will get even more upset.” He grinned.

Wade grinned back.

The two stepped inside, the door closing behind them. The warm air greeted them. 

Peter waved at Wade from his spot on the armchair, his legs crossed. “Finally! I’m starving.” 

“This would’ve got here sooner if you just let Percy shadow-travel me.” Wade pointed out, handing Peter several pizza boxes from the stack.

“Ah, but you wouldn’t have been punished for your sins.” Peter retorted with a smirk.

“And which one of us is the runner-up for the longest amount of time it took to arrive after forgetting?” Percy interjected as Wade handed him his pizza boxes. “And it’s not like you had an excuse either!” Percy continued, despite Peter opening his mouth to defend himself. “Unlike Wade. You were just downstairs in your lab tinkering!”

“Okay, but you could’ve just knocked on the door and let me know you guys were here instead of waiting for an hour!”

“Ah, but then that would be cheating, no?” Percy asked, sitting down on the couch. 

Wade placed his pizza boxes on the coffee table, and sat down next to Percy, elbowing him over to make room.

“Ow! You know you would have enough room to sit down if you just moved like two inches to the left!” Percy protested, elbowing his back.

“Ah,  but I missed you! Why did you have to leave?” Wade said dramatically, leaning his full body weight on Percy.

“Ack! Get off! You’re so heavy!” Percy pushed back against Wade, trying to get him off. 

Peter laughed, watching the two of them bicker. “You gotta let the man do his thing, Percy! He was suffering without you!” 

“But now I’m suffering!” Percy protested with a grin. 

“Are you calling me fat?!” Wade demanded.

You know what?

Maybe they have suffered in the past.

Maybe they have forgotten who they used to be. 

Maybe they have been forced to evolve into monsters so terrifying that even the big-time heroes leave them alone.

But… if it meant being able to stay as they are now,  together, then they’d do it all over again.  

Chapter Text

Doesn’t everybody like to say-

“Spider-man’s life is defined by  t r a g e d y ?”

You see, dear reader, Peter used to be a hero, too.

One of the best, they used to cheer.

But that was a long time ago.

One thing that they don’t tell you about being a hero-

-is that you lose people.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Ben!”

Constantly.

“Eddie?”

“I’m going to kill you, Parker!”

Over.

“No, no, no, no, no-please no! Gwen, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! Don’t leave me!”

And Over.

A gentle kiss on his forehead.

“Peter, I have cancer.”

“Aunt May, not you too-!”

And Over again.

“I’m sorry, Tiger, but I think it’s time we see other people.”

And you just can’t stop losing people.

“It has just been confirmed that Harry Osborn, the heir to Oscorp Industries, was in the tragic building explosion. He was one of many victims of this accident-.”

And it’s  f i n e !

“Kid..?”

Totally fine!

“Spider-Man?”

But then you start losing too many people.

And then you  b r ea k.

But that’s a spoiler.

Let’s just start with the beginning of the end, shall we? 

Though, most people would probably argue that the Green Goblin wasn’t the actual trigger.

 They would say that it was the people Spider-Man lost along the way.

One by One. 

Until he was dangling over a chasm with no support anchor.  

You see, this green goblin decided he was done playing around. 

This green goblin decided to make a shit-ton of bombs.

This green goblin decided that he would blow them up unless Spider-Man came to fight him.

And, only Spider-Man.

If another hero tried coming to stop him? 

They would get blown up, along with the rest of the city.

And so, Spider-Man rose to the challenge.

As he always did.

Everyone in NYC watched their TVs with bated breath, as the fight was broadcasted to the entire city.

Heroes worked frantically, trying to locate and dispose of the bombs without Green Goblin noticing as he and Spider-Man traded blows.

Deadpool intently watched the fight on his TV. A message was sent to Spider-Man from Deadpool when the fight started broadcasting: ‘Good luck, webs.’

A young man, not yet betrayed, with still-bright sea-green eyes, carefully studied the fight with his not-dead-yet family beside him.

Spider-Man punched Green Goblin, knocking him off his feet. He fell, and Spider-Man lifted him, slamming him back against the wall. 

“Disarm the bombs!” Spider-Man shouted. 

It started raining like the world was trying to warn everyone that something terrible would occur.

Green Goblin laughed. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you’ve lost!” 

“Did you think I would disarm them just because you fought me?” He laughed again. “Fool.”

“What?”

“I was distracting you.” Green Goblin explained. “They’re on a timer. Set to go off automatically. Nothing you or I can do about it now.”

A bomb went off, miles from them.

Car horns rang in the silence.

Civilians screamed as Times Square blew to smithereens.

Emergency sirens blared, converging on the emergency site. 

Something in the back of Peter’s mind just-  c r ac ke d.

His vision went red. 

He screamed, punching Green Goblin with all of his strength behind it.

(He meant to knock Green Goblin out.)

(But what poor Peter Parker didn’t notice was that one of his experimental poisonous stingers had malfunctioned, and as his fist cracked against Green Goblin’s face, his stinger injected Goblin with a fatal amount of poison.)

(And why would Poor Peter Parker carry any kind of antidote on him? He never planned on bringing these on patrol. It was an accident! They were an experiment he was working on when Green Goblin challenged him.)

And so, poor Peter Parker watched in horror as Green Goblin fell back, violently seizing on the floor. 

Within minutes, the Green Goblin was dead.

(And the entire city watched, horrified.)

(They had just watched their darling hero kill a villain in cold blood.)

(The Avengers had managed to disarm the other bombs before they went off, not even noticing what Spider-Man had done until it was too late.

They helped rescue civilians who had been hurt by the explosion in Times Square.

Spider-Man had been spotted too, pulling people out of the rubble.

That was the last time they’d ever see Spider-Man again.

Countless lives were lost that day.

And Peter memorized every single one of their names. )

Peter Parker decided that he was done playing hero.

He hung up his web-shooters and left.

He decided to retire, vanishing to work at a nowhere gas station and be nobody.

And for a time, he was happy . 

But PeterSpider-Man never gets to be happy, does he?

One random, stupid day, Peter finally worked up the courage to go through all the stuff that used to be in his Aunt’s house. When she died, he threw it all into storage, not even being able to look at it.

But he decided that he was finally ready to go through it.

What a fucking mistake.

You see, dear reader. Among the clutter was his father’s briefcase and all his notes for his research experiments, and Peter, being the dumbass he is, decided to go through it.

And there he found it.

Notes detailing his father’s work on the super soldier serum.

How he decided to use a Spider’s DNA to develop it.

How he decided to use his own son to test it.

And how it had Shield’s insignia all over it.

Something in the back of my mind  s ha t ter e d.

Peter furiously burst into the meeting room that the agent led him to. “Fury!” He shouted, marching toward the Director of Shield. Without looking away from him, Peter slammed his father’s research notes onto the table beside him. “The fuck is this?” He demanded, gesturing to it.

“…Kid?” Peter froze upon hearing Tony Stark’s voice.

Fuck.

He turned around and all the Avengers stared at him in varying degrees of shock and disbelief.

After all, the last time they had seen the former hero was when he killed Green Goblin.

Peter locked eyes with Tony who just stared at him in concern. 

“Kid?” Tony asked again.

When Peter didn’t answer, Tony quickly stood and walked over to him. He carefully looked him over. Upon deeming him fine physically, he cupped Peter’s cheek and lifted it so that he could lock eyes with Peter. Tony intently studied Peter’s eyes.

“Are you okay, Peter?” He asked carefully.

Peter just stared at him apathetically.

The unopened text messages and unanswered voicemails from Tony burned a hole in his pocket. 

He didn’t know what to say.

Once upon a time, he felt comforted when he was wrapped in Tony’s arms.

He felt like nothing in the world could hurt him when Tony Stark was hugging him.

But now he felt nothing.

He felt empty.

Peter pulled away from Stark‘s hug. 

Turning once more, he faced Fury, who watched his and Stark’s interaction with a cold look.

“The fuck is that?” Percy demanded quietly, pointing to his father’s research notes, which bore the insignia of Shield for all the world to see.

Unnoticed, Stark stepped toward the scattered notes, flipping through them with a serious look.

“You knew about this?” Peter asked, his volume slowly rising. “About the fact that my father had worked on a super soldier serum for you. About the fact that he decided to experiment on me to perfect it! Did you know that if not for that fucking spider bite, then I’d be fucking dead?”

The whole room froze.

“From the minute he injected me with that stuff, I was dead. It was just a matter of when.” Peter spat. 

Stark exchanged a horrified look with Rodgers.

“So tell me. Did you know?!” Peter shouted, jabbing his finger into Fury’s chest.

Fury looked almost bored. “Yes, I did.”

“Then why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” Peter demanded. 

Fury sighed. “You’ve been on edge, Spider-Man. Losing people left and right. A lot of people watched, waiting for that one little nudge to push you off. I decided that this wouldn’t be that nudge.”

Peter scoffed. “Well good fucking job, Fury, because you just fucking did.” He pushed Fury against the wall with a loud bang and stormed out of the room. 

The door slammed shut behind him.

(What he didn’t know was that after Peter left, Stark had read through all the experiment notes. 

Every single one of them.

Then he punched Fury in the face. 

The other Avengers didn’t stop him.)

Peter barged into his apartment, the door banging against the wall.  He stormed inside, his body shaking. 

His chest tightened and he screamed, punching the wall.

“Wow, what the wall ever do to you, webs-?” Wade paused, noticing the tears in Peter’s eyes. “You okay, baby boy?”

Peter sniffled. “The fuck do you think?”

“Yeah, okay. Fair point.” Wade said, twitching in place awkwardly. “Um…do you want a…hug?”

“Please.”

Wade wrapped his arms around Peter, holding him up, and Peter felt something in him  c ru m bl e.

He tightly clutched onto Wade’s shirt, tears streaming down his face. “Why does everyone leave me?” 

“I won’t leave you,” Wade promised, placing his chin on top of Peter’s head, holding him tighter.

“...do you promise?”

“Peter, I swear to you that nothing on this Earth will ever separate me from you,” Wade vowed, pulling his head back so that he could lock eyes with Peter.

“Thank you,” Peter replied quietly.

“Always.”

Wade carefully sat down against the wall, tugging Peter to sit with him. Peter curled around Wade, hiding his face in Wade’s neck.

Peter’s tears dried and Wade remained as he was, running his hands through Peter’s hair.

With each movement of Wade’s hand, Peter felt something in his chest warm.

A feeling he hasn’t felt in a long, long time.

Hours later, Peter was the only one still awake.

Wade was fast asleep, drooling on the couch cushions and a blanket thrown on top of him.

Empty takeout boxes were thrown in the trash and the tv had been turned off. It was dark and still. The only thing that could be heard was Wade’s snoring.

Peter’s Spider-man outfit and web shooters sat in front of him. 

The mask’s eyes stared at him accusingly.

The malfunctioning stinger gauntlets lay beside them. 

In the light of a dim lamp, Peter worked like a man scorned, Fury’s words echoing in his ears. 

He would show Fury who’s falling off the fucking edge.

An hour later, he had fixed the gauntlets, making it so that he could both use the stinger and shoot webs from it. Silently, he adjusted it so that his stingers would intentionally inject that much poison into someone.

He laid out a utility belt, filling it with the antidote to his spider poison, various poisonous darts, and a couple of daggers. On second thought, he threw a couple of protein bars in there as well. Along with a tiny portable med kit.

Throwing out his Spider-Man outfit, he sewed together a new black and red spider-themed one. This time he attached a hood and engineered a pair of combat boots that would still let him wall crawl. He also developed a pair of high-tech night goggles that he would wear over his mask. 

Then, he worked on an experimental spider bot that could hack into any computer it was placed on and retrieve any files on said computer automatically. 

When Wade slipped back into the room with a plate of pancakes, the morning sun to his back, the Black Spider greeted him in full costume. 

“I can’t hurt the civilians I spent almost a decade protecting,” Peter explained bitterly, Wade’s too-knowledgable eyes studying him. “But I can’t do nothing anymore because Fury’s words won’t let me.”

“So you want to be a mercenary like me?” Wade asked, setting the plate down and stepping closer to Peter.

“Yeah, as a mercenary I can choose my own jobs, and..” Peter hesitated. “I’m tired of being so broke.” He lied with a smirk.

Wade knew Peter was lying.

He knew.

But he didn’t say anything.

“I’ll promise to be a wise but fair Sensi for you, webs.” He replied with a matching grin. “Now eat, or else the pancakes will get cold.”

Peter took his mask off, rolling his eyes. “Yes, Mama Wade.”

“Don’t say that, or I’ll get turned on!” 

(Months later, when Black Spider officially debuts, the civilians eye him wearily but hold their tongues. 

They all know who Black Spider is. 

Spider-Man goes missing, and then a brand new spider-themed mercenary appears with a similar skill set? Yeah, doesn’t take much brain power to figure out that he used to be Spidey.

But none of them say a single word. 

They all remember who Spider-Man used to be.

They all remember that broadcast fight years ago, and they don't say a fucking thing .)

(The Avengers hold their tongues too, remembering a certain red and blue hero who used to swing joyfully across the city.

Who used to chatter cheerfully in the comms during team-up missions.

Who had lost everyone he had known and loved and still fought the good fight.

They all held their silence even more, remembering the reason why he became a mercenary in the first place. )

Chapter Text

“Secret Santa?” Percy repeated dubiously. “You know there’s like three of us, right?” He said, gesturing to all of them from his spot on the couch next to Wade. “It wouldn’t be that difficult to guess who's got who, ya know.”  

All of them were in Peter’s living room, where Peter had gathered them to discuss Christmas plans. After all, it would be their first time spending Christmas together. Percy’s discarded Nintendo Switch was on the coffee table, where a game of Smash Bros was paused. Percy and Wade had been playing a few rounds before Peter requested their attention.

Peter huffed. “That’s why we won’t tell each other anything. Look, I just thought we could…spice things up a bit.” He shrugged helplessly. 

“If you wanted spice, I could’ve just grabbed some paprika from the spice cabinet,” Percy deadpanned, pointing to the kitchen. 

“Aw, don’t be such a scrooge, Percy!” Wade teased Percy, wrapping his arm around Percy’s shoulder and pulling him in close so he could pinch his cheek.

Percy grabbed Wade’s wrist before he could do anything. “Oh like you just don’t automatically agree with anything Peter says,” He said.

Wade's wrist went limp. “I mean-it’s Peter, baby boo,” he stated matter of factly.

“Yeah, it's Peter, Percy,” Peter echoed with a shit-eating grin.

“It’s Peter, Percy,” Percy mocked, still underneath Wade’s arm. “Like you don’t have the biggest cru-!”

Wade covered Percy’s mouth with his hand, “I’ll buy you a new game for your Switch if you shut up.” He said quickly, removing it to hear Percy’s response.

Percy contemplated, “Make it two…and a new Switch skin.”

“Am I just a money bag to you?”

Percy raised his eyebrow at Wade.

Wade sighed dramatically. “Fine, but I get to choose which one.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, sir!” Percy happily shook Wade’s hand.

Peter rolled his eyes but shot them a fond look. “Can I be bribed too? I want a new camera.”

With a shit-eating grin, Percy leaned close and whispered in Wade’s ear. “Sugar daddy.”

Wade gasped out loud. “Where did you learn such language?”

Percy raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fair, but still-you’re like a child. You’re not allowed to use such language.”

“Like you aren’t just a bag of dust and bones waiting for the next strong wind to blow you away.”

Wade gasped again, offended this time. He lunged at Percy, but in favor of getting back on track, Peter grabbed Wade by the scruff of his neck and lifted him in the air with one hand.  Wade immediately went still as Percy cackled at him.

“Ah, suddenly it’s so peaceful now that Wade’s docile,” Percy commented with a smirk.

“Kinda nice, isn’t it?” Peter asked.

“Does he weigh anything to you?”

“No, it’s like holding a couple of grapes.”

“Okay, so if we’re going the Secret Santa thing. Shouldn’t we figure out who’s got who?” Percy asked.

Wade sat on the armchair, across from the couch Percy sat on. He sat sideways on the armchair, his legs thrown across one side. Although, because he’s freakishly tall, his head kinda just dangled off the other side instead of resting on it. Wade didn’t make any effort to move to a more comfortable position though, claimed he liked it more this way.

Peter grabbed a baseball cap from the coffee, which already contained the pieces of paper. “Thankfully, I came prepared.”

“And what if we said we didn’t want to do the Secret Santa thing?” Percy asked.

“Ah, but you didn’t, did you?” Peter replied with a smirk.

Percy pouted, watching Peter shake the hat around. “Ah yes, the classic Peter Parker trait of over-preparedness,” He decided to comment after a moment of silence.

“Next time, maybe I won’t share the fruits of my over-preparedness with you,” Peter said, staring at Percy.

“I never said that I didn’t appreciate it and you very much.” Percy backtracked.

Wade laughed.

“Okay, now we can pick,” Peter announced, done with mixing the names. Not like there was much to mix around in the first place.

Peter offered Wade the hat first and he pulled out a piece of paper, checking with a nod. “Didn’t get myself, sweet cheeks!”

He then offered it to Percy, who pulled out a piece and confirmed it. “Yeah, I didn’t get myself either.”

Peter then pulled out the last piece of paper from the hat and groaned loudly. “Guys, we have to put them back. I got my own name.”

“I told you there would be issues!” Percy laughed, placing his piece of paper back in the hat. 

Wade cackled, tossing his piece back in as well.

Peter shook the hat a bit and then repeated the process. This time, thankfully, they all got different names.

“Hopefully, that wasn’t some kind of foreshadowing,” Percy said cheerfully.

Peter glared at him.

Wade groaned audibly. After he left Peter’s apartment, he climbed to the rooftop of Peter’s apartment building and laid down. He hasn’t moved since. 

This was normally his choice of haunt when he wanted to be alone. It’s not like he could see the stars or anything. He just didn’t want to go back to his apartment alone.

[More like he just wanted to be close to Peter.]

{Wouldn’t you?}

 The piece of paper rattled tauntingly in his grasp, the word ‘Peter’ written on it.

Wade had no idea what to get him.

[As always.]

“I’m not that bad when it comes to gift-giving!” Wade protested.

[Last year, you got Peter a lifetime subscription to Taco Bell.]

“Peter likes tacos though!”

{Yeah, but not from Taco Bell!}

“Okay, but I bought Percy his Nintendo Switch and he loves it!”

[It’s a Nintendo Switch! Everyone would love one!]

“Well, Peter said he wanted a camera. I should get one for him!”

{That is so low effort. It’s like you're not even trying.}

[He never tries though does he?]

{Can’t believe you wouldn’t put in any effort for Peter.}

A familiar chill began to envelop his body.

[He deserves better.]

As they continued taking jabs at him, with each one getting worse and worse, in the back of his mind, Wade faintly started to recognize the point he was at. 

There was an ever-growing hole in Wade’s chest, sucking all feeling into it. 

He was dangling off the edge into the precipice of a never-ending spiral. 

On instinct, Wade pulled out his phone and called Peter.

“Wade?” Peter answered.

“Hey, Petey,” Wade replied, his voice high-pitched. “Can you just talk?”

Peter paused. “Of course. Anything you need, darling.”

At that, Peter began to tell him about how he was in his lab, trying to think of stuff his Secret Santa would hopefully like, but not having any luck either. He talked about how Percy had left for his own apartment, which worried Peter.  He talked about how cool vintage Polaroid cameras were and how much he wanted one. He talked about his newest embroidery project, which he was excited to show Wade once he was done.

As Peter talked, Wade slowly began to warm. Curled into a ball, lying on his side, he just let Peter’s voice keep him afloat.

White and Yellow remained silent, also basking in Peter’s warmth.

After a long while, Wade finally spoke up. “Thanks, Pete.”

“Always, darling. You okay?”

“Yeah!” Wade lied.

Peter hummed disbelievingly, but let him go. “If you say so. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” Wade hung up.

Standing, he walked over to the edge of the rooftop. He looked out for a moment too long before jumping to a nearby rooftop. “Let’s go to Stark Tower, guys! Peter likes high-tech things and Stark makes them, so let’s go steal something from Stark for Peter!” He said, inserting fake cheer into his voice.

[There’s no possible way that this could go wrong.]

In his lab, Peter frowned as the call ended. “I hope Wade’s okay.” He muttered to himself, his voice echoing in the empty room.

The scribbled-out list of ideas for Percy’s gift stared accusingly at him from his desk.

He stared at it for a while before sighing and running his hands through his hair. He stood and left his lab. 

He stopped at the top of the stairs that led to the main area of his apartment.

For a moment, he just stood there, soaking in the silence, before coming to a decision.  He turned and walked down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Pausing in the center of the hallway, he looked at the wall in front of him.

As he studied the pictures, Peter’s chest molded itself into a familiar hollowed-out cage of bones.

Rattling with every breath he took.

There were almost hundreds of pictures plastered onto the wall. From superhero selfies with other heroes to family pictures, anyone he’d ever known or loved was on that wall. 

Aunt May smiled at him from several of them.  

A forever-empty chasm.

His eyes caught onto a picture of him and Peter, hanging out at a restaurant, caught mid-laugh.

And breathed.

After a long last look, he continued on his journey, opening the door to the ‘guest bedroom.’ At this point, honestly, Peter would much rather call it Percy’s bedroom, considering the amount of time Percy spent in there, but Peter was afraid that it would scare him off. 

Black bed sheets were strewn about, and there was a window left open. Percy’s acoustic cutie was hanging on a wall mounted guitar hanger. A folder of sheet music was discarded on his desk. Posters of rock bands littered the walls. Percy’s skateboard wasn’t here though. Probably because he was spending the night at his own apartment.

Peter paused as he noticed the forgotten Nintendo Switch on Percy’s bed. “What-? I thought that was in the living room.” He sighed, picking it up.

Percy would probably text him later, asking if he had forgotten it here.

Percy groaned, from where was on the carpet of his living room. He was lying face down in misery, banging his forehead against the carpet. “Think Percy. Think. What would Wade like?” He paused for a moment. “Well, it’s Wade. He’d love anything.”

“It’s gotta be perfect though…” He muttered to himself.

The silence echoed in his empty apartment. 

He sighed audibly, curling onto his side and resting his head on his arms.

A familiar heaviness shackled itself to his heart.

Percy closed his eyes.

If he just pretended hard enough, maybe he could still hear his mom shuffling around in the kitchen, dirty dishes and baking trays clattering around. It was Christmas time, so she’d be in there, baking blue Christmas treats.

Maybe he could still hear his little sister cheerfully chattering his ears off, wanting to stay up the night of Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus dropping off presents.

Maybe he could still hear his stepdad talking with his mom in the kitchen, discussing the new bike they were going to buy for his sister.

Percy opened his eyes.

All he could hear was silence once more.

Percy sat up, seeing Nico shadow travel into his apartment. “Hey, cuz.”

“Hey, Percy. What are you doing on the floor?” Nico asked, collapsing onto Percy’s couch.

Percy sighed deeply, lying down on his back. “There’s this Secret Santa thing I’m doing with the others-.”

“Isn’t there like three of you, though?” Nico asked.

“Exactly!” Percy exclaimed, gesturing with his hands. “That’s what I said but Peter thought it’d be fun to ‘spice things up a bit’ and now I’m down here trying to brainstorm things Wade would like.”

“He does seem like a difficult person to get a gift for.”

“Right?”

“Maybe you should get him a taco truck.”

“If I were to get him any kind of food truck, though, it'd have to be a pancake one because that’s his favorite food. But even then, I think he likes gossiping with Hector more than eating at the food truck.”

“Hector?”

“The guy who runs the taco truck that Wade likes going to. Wade thinks he’s a part of the cartel.”

“Ah,” Nico hummed, shifting on the couch so that he was lying on his back like Percy. “Is there anyone else you ask about ideas? Since you can’t ask Peter.”

Percy gasped, sitting up quickly and looking at Nico. “Nico that’s it! I can ask the Wolverine for help!”

“The Wolverine?”

“Yeah, Wade tells me all the time that he and Wolverine are friends. I can just ask him for help!”

“Are you sure about this, Percy? Wolverine isn’t someone to piss off.”

“Oh, stop worrying, Nico. It’ll be fine!” Percy exclaimed, waving his hands dismissively.

Nico let out a disagreeing hum but did let press the issue further. 

[I just want to go on record that this is a terrible idea.]

“Oh, you worry too much, Yellow,” Wade said, crawling through the vents toward Stark’s lab. “I’ll be fine.”

{Things said moments before disaster.}

Normally, Wade’s 6’ ass wouldn’t be able to fit into any kind of vent in the first place, but Peter told him that Stark made these vents bigger because Clint loved crawling through them. Wade planned on taking advantage of that fact.

Wade opened the vent and silently dropped down into Stark’s darkened lab. He scanned the room, drawing his katana. The lab was thankfully empty. “Looks like we’re all clear, guys-!”

“The fuck are you doing in my lab, Wilson.” Tony Stark demanded from behind him, the lab's lights flooding the room.

[Told you.]

{Press F in the chat for Wade, guys!}

[F]

{F}

[F]

{F}

[F]

{F}

[F]

“Would you guys stop spamming F?” Wade yelled, “I never should’ve let Percy teach you gamer terms.”

{That's not very pogchamp of you.}

As Wade opened his mouth to argue, a cough interrupted him.

Oh right, Stark.

Wade turned around to face Stark, who surprisingly didn’t even have his armor on. He only had a steaming cup of coffee in hand.

Stark raised an eyebrow.

Wade had never felt so offended in his entire life that he was deemed such a non-threat.

He was Deadpool!

He had the biggest urge to wreck some chaos to fix this judgment, but he pushed it down because he knew Peter still cared about Stark.

“Heh, so you see Stark,” Wade began, sheathing his katana. “There’s this Christmas thing, right?” He started gesturing while he spoke. “See, Peter decided that it would be a great idea to do a Secret Santa between me, Peter, and Acheron. You know Acheron, right? He’s the sword guy we usually hang with. Very cool kid. Anyway, I pulled the paper out of the hat, and to no one’s surprise, including my own, I got Petey. And you know that Petey likes high-tech stuff. You make high-tech stuff. Easy math, yeah?”

Stark took a long judgemental sip of his coffee at Wade’s word vomit. “What the fuck are you even doing here, Wilson? You know Peter better than I do nowadays. Do you really think he’d want something you stole from me for Christmas?” At Wade’s blank stare, Stark sighed frustratedly. “God, I can’t believe I'm the one who has to say this. Look. Wilson, stop being so fucking insecure. It looks ugly on you. You know how Peter is. You can’t honestly tell me that you don’t think Peter would love anything you give him?”

“Well-!”

Stark exhaled loudly, interrupting Wade. “I thought this was quite obvious but I guess not. I can’t believe I have to give relationship advice to fucking Deadpool…He loves you, you idiot. The kid loves you something fierce, so get out of your own fucking way and get him something you know he’d like.”

Wade was still quiet. “Thanks for the…therapy?”

Stark took another sip of his coffee. “Now get the fuck out of my lab.”

As Wade turned to do just that, he paused upon hearing Stark’s voice again. “Take care of him, Wilson.”

“Always.” and then he left.

Peter let himself into Percy’s apartment, an excuse for Percy on the tip of his tongue in the form of the Nintendo Switch in his hands. “Hey, Perce-!” He cut himself off at the unfamiliar person sitting on the couch. “You’re not Percy.” Peter studied the stranger. 

The stranger had inky black hair and wore the same necklace Percy never took off. One of Percy’s blankets was strewn across his legs. He looked young, definitely younger than Percy at least.

“And neither are you.” The stranger replied, studying Peter in turn.

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, stepping toward the couch. “Ah, yeah. Sorry about that. I’m Peter, and you are?” He stepped closer, offering his hand to shake.

“I’m Nico.” He shook the offered hand.

“Oh, you’re Percy’s cousin. He’s told me a lot about you.”

“And he’s told me a lot about you too, Peter.” Nico paused, leaning closer to Peter. “Is it true that the two of trolled Wade for like half a year by making him think you were enemies?”

Peter laughed, sitting down in the loveseat across from him. “Yeah, that’s true.” He admitted with a chuckle. “You should’ve seen Wade's face though when he saw the two of us hanging out in his apartment together and playing video games. It was hysterical.” 

Nico laughed. “I bet.” After a second, he looked at Peter questioningly. “So what are you doing here?”

Peter fiddled with the Switch in his hands and debated telling a lie, but pushed that thought away since Percy wasn’t there. “I, uh…”

“It’s the Secret Santa thing isn’t it?” Nico asked knowingly.

“How’d you know?”

“Percy was complaining about it earlier.”

“Figures.” Peter exhaled. “I have no idea what to get Percy. Well, I have some ideas but none of them are good enough, ya know?”

Nico hummed knowingly. “Well, if you want an idea…his mom used to make these delicious blue cookies.”

“Blue?”

“Yeah, it was Percy’s and his mom’s thing. Blue Food. Dunno why, but Percy loved it. Used to eat it all the time. His mom’s cookies were the best though. Everyone at camp used to fight over them.”

Peter chuckled. “Thanks for the idea, Nico.” He stood, then handed the Nintendo Switch to Nico.” Percy forgot it at my place. I was originally planning on using it as my excuse, but since Percy isn’t here-” He shrugged. “-you can play on it until he gets back I guess.”

Nico’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I am gonna play so much Animal Crossing until Percy gets back.”

“Knock yourself out, kid.” He ruffled Nico’s hair, then walked out of the apartment.

Percy geared up, tracking down Wolverine to one of his usual haunts: an old, run-down bar, near Xavier’s School for the gifted.

Percy shadow traveled into a nearby alleyway. He double-checked his gear, then stepped inside. “I’m looking for the Wolverine.” He announced.

A scruffy man sitting at the bar chuckled. “Just call me Logan, kid.”

 “Okay, old man,” Percy replied, walking over to him.  

Logan took a sip of his alcohol and then eyed Percy warily. “Does your big brother know you’re here?”

“Eh, not really.” Percy shrugged. “This is a personal thing. I’m here because Wade said that the two of you are friends and I need your help.”

Logan chucked. “Wade Wilson really said that we are friends?” He said disbelievingly.

“Yeah, he was like-“ Percy did an impression of Wade’s voice “-Oh yeah me and Wolverine are definitely besties-something something-his glorious pecks-something something-we even have friendship bracelets as proof.” Percy returned to his normal voice. “And I was like, kinda gay but whatever I guess-!”

Logan choked on his drink, spluttering.

“And I’m now here,” Percy continued, “because Spidey decided to do a secret Santa thing even though there’s only like three of us, and now I’m trying to think of something Wade would like but I can’t think of anything, so I thought why not ask one of his friends for advice.”

Logan turned to face Percy. “First off, bub, while we may be friends, I have no idea what he likes. You would have a better idea on that than anyone.”

Percy opened his mouth to object but Logan lifted his hand. 

“No, let me speak.” He sighed. “Listen, kid, you don’t know what Deadpool was like before he met you and Spidey. He was a lot more on edge and a lot less caring about his own life or others’ lives. After meeting you two, though? He softened.” Logan pulled a black and red beaded bracelet out of his pocket. “The only reason he gave me this was because you made one for him and he decided I should have one for some ungodly reason.”

He poked Percy’s forehead.

“Stop caring so much about what to get him, kid. He’s Wade. He’d love anything. It’s kinda hard to mess up getting a gift for him.”

Percy rubbed his forehead. “Thanks, I guess, old man.” Then he disappeared into the shadows.

Logan dropped his drink in surprise. It shattered against the floor. “Fuck.”

“So why do I have to put up the lights on the ceiling again? Aren’t you the one with wall-crawling powers?” Percy asked doubtfully, holding a strand of Christmas lights in his hands.

“Ah, but it was always a tradition to make the youngest do it, so here you are,” Peter explained with a smirk.

“Ah yes.” Percy deadpanned. “Don’t want you breaking your old man bones.”

“Old man?” Peter squawked, ruffling Percy’s hair. “If I’m old, then how old’s Wade?”

“Ancient. Catastrophically ancient. Like we should’ve put him in the nursing home like a century ago.”

“I’m telling Wade you said that.”

“Go ahead. He’d definitely break his bones from laughing too hard.”

It was Christmas Day and there was no place warmer than Peter’s apartment that day. There was snow outside, but not a single chill inside.

The smell of gingerbread hung in the air. 

In the kitchen sat their baking attempts from earlier today: three gingerbread houses, all in different degrees of disarray.

Peter’s house was probably the most technically perfect, with the most attention to detail with the candy decorations. 

While Percy’s house may not look as perfect as Peter’s, it still had heart. Honestly, Percy was just happy it didn’t wobble.  Annabeth would’ve come back from beyond the grave and judo-flipped him if it was anything less than stable.

Wade’s house, if you could even call it a house, was a catastrophic disaster with visible bite marks on the walls. It was just a pile of bitten-into walls and the leftover candy Wade didn’t eat.

In the living room, the Christmas tree was up and shining bright, decorated with various ornaments. A star was placed on top, shining the brightest of all.

Lights were hung on the ceiling. It was a miracle that Peter had yet to break a circuit considering the amount of lights he had up.

Percy sat on the couch, next to Peter who was checking his phone.

Peter smiled at the Merry Christmas text he got from Tony. He sent one back.

Wade sat across from them, still chewing on one of the walls that was supposed to be for his gingerbread house. At this point, Peter had given up on trying to get it back.

Percy cleared his throat. “So uh…secret Santa?”

“Yeah, go for it. You can go first, Percy.” Peter said, leaning back on the couch and placing his phone down on the coffee table.

Percy nodded. He grabbed the pink gift bag from under the tree that said “It’s a girl” and handed it to Wade.

“I wondered what that was about,” Peter said with a raised eyebrow.

Percy laughed. “I figured Wade would like it.”

“Well, I do! It’s fucking hilarious.” Wade said. He set the gift bag on his lap and pulled out a soft misshapen knitted platypus.

Deadpool doesn’t deserve soft things.

Wade froze, the stuffed animal in hand.

Too good for you.

“I, uh…made it myself. I’m sorry if it’s a bit misshapen. I’ve never knit before, so I had to ask Peter for help.” At Wade’s continued silence, Percy continued rambling. “And I know I kinda broke the rules by asking Pete for help but like-.”

“I love it.” Wade softly interrupted, his voice thick.

“You do?” Percy asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah, it’s…” He squeezed the plush carefully. “It’s very soft.”

Wade wrapped his arms around the soft stuffed animal and something inside himself melted.

The brown platypus plushie was a tad misshapen, making it obvious it was made by a beginner. The legs weren’t completely even, making it lean forward because its back legs were too long. You can kinda tell where Percy ran out of the original brown yarn and had to substitute it with a slightly different colored brown yarn.

Wade loved it.

He stared into its big black button eyes. “I love it, Perce.” He said, his voice shaking with emotion. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it!” Percy beamed, deciding not to tease Wade about his old man emotions.

“What are you gonna name it?” Peter asked, his phone out and taking pictures of Wade being emotional over a knitted platypus.

Wade thought for a moment. “She looks like a Peggy to me.”

“That sounds perfect.”

After a second of reeling in his emotions, Wade picked up a badly wrapped gift from under the Christmas tree and handed it to Peter. 

He unwrapped it, revealing a vintage Polaroid camera. “Oh, Wade…” Peter whispered excitedly, inspecting it carefully. “Do you know how long I’ve been looking for one of these!”

“I kinda had a bit of difficulty finding a gift for you at first, and Yellow and White said you wouldn’t like it, but Stark said you would-!” 

Peter interrupted Wade’s rambling. “Stark?” He asked. “Wait, you talked to Tony?”

“Heh, funny story. You see, my original idea was to get you something high-tech from Stark’s lab but I got caught and instead of blowing me full of holes, he kinda gave me some therapy? I dunno. I’m still kinda lost on what exactly happened.” Wade rambled.

Both Percy and Peter laughed. 

“Leave it to Wade to plan a heist to get a Christmas gift,” Percy said.

“I appreciate the thought, Wade,” Peter said with a grin. He inspected the camera and then paused. “Wait, is this camera still working?”

Wade raised an eyebrow at Peter. “You really think I’d get you a camera that doesn’t work?” He said to Peter’s growing excitement.

“Guys, huddle up.” Peter motioned for all of them to get together. “I wanna take a picture of us.”

Percy scooted in tighter while Wade stood up, and sitting Percy’s other side so he could squeeze in. 

“Okay guys, on the count of three. 1..2..3!” Peter snapped a photo. 

After a couple of seconds, Peter watched excitedly as the camera slowly printed out a photo. Peter laughed when it was done printing.

The other two joined in when Peter showed them the photo.

Both Wade and Percy had flipped off the camera at the same time. 

“Guys!” He complained jokingly but didn’t take a re-do. Peter carefully placed the photo in his pocket to hang up later. He then grabbed a metal tin from underneath the couch and handed it to a cackling Percy. 

“A tin?” Percy asked.

“Open it,” Peter said. 

Percy obliged and froze upon seeing the blue cookies that lay inside it.

His mom’s blue cookies.

After a moment of silence, Peter nudged Percy carefully and said, “Your cousin, Nico, told me that your mom used to bake these for you.”

They looked just like hers.

Percy reached out a trembling hand and carefully picked up a cookie. 

Gods, he misses his mom.

After intently inspecting it, he ate it and immediately burst into tears.

Peter panicked. “Ah-Percy! Are you okay? Wade, grab some tissues-!” Peter was cut off as Percy hugged him tightly, still holding onto the tin.

Peter looked up at Wade in confusion.

“Hug him back!” Wade mouthed, gesturing.

Peter carefully wrapped his arms around Percy, rubbing his hand through Percy’s hair. “Hey, Perce. You okay?”

“Yeah, I just-.” Percy sniffled. “I miss my mom.”

“Yeah, I get that. I miss my aunt sometimes still, especially around the holidays.” Peter said, pulling back slightly so he could cup Percy’s cheek. “I know that Wade and I could never replace your mom, or your family, or the friends you have lost, but we’re here for you, Percy. Now and forever.” Peter vowed.

“What he said, baby boo,” Wade said, joining in on the group hug.

Percy enjoyed the warmth for a moment before pulling away and quickly drying his eyes. “Here, try one.” He offered the tin to both of them.

They both grabbed one. 

Even though Peter practically had the taste of them imprinted into his mind forever now because he spent the last three days perfecting the recipe. Thank fuck Aunt May had taught him how to bake before she died, and that it wasn’t that hard to apply his knowledge toward blue cookies.

Wade shoved the entire cookie into his mouth, then moaned as the taste hit his tongue. “Did you put crack in these cookies?” He demanded, trying to grab another cookie from the tin.

Peter choked on his cookie. “No!”

Percy hummed thoughtfully, easily fighting off Wade’s attempted thievery. “You got a point, Wade.” He ate another cookie, this time thankfully tear-free. “I think he did put crack in them.”

“What, no! I didn’t!”

The two continued to heckle Peter about his delicious blue cookies for the rest of the afternoon and well into the night. 

(Now, whenever Percy wants blue cookies, he asks Peter for his ‘crack cookies.’ Peter sighs loudly but obliges and makes the cookies for them.

One random afternoon, Peter decided to make Percy help him make his famous cookies. 

At one point, Percy stole the batter for himself and Peter had to fight for it back, shouting about ‘salmonella, Percy. Don’t!’ 

The two of them then flung chocolate chips at each other, competing for who could make the coolest shot.

Later, Percy tracked down Logan, and in thanks, flung a blue cookie at his forehead.

Now, whenever Deadpool and Wolverine fight, Wade brings a tin of cookies for Logan.

Later, Peter hung up the picture he took up on his wall, smiling at the new addition. He also printed out a couple of pictures of Wade getting emotional over the knitted platypus to hang up.

Whenever he gets a chance, Peter pulls out his Polaroid camera to take pictures of the other two, eventually filling the wall to the point where his chest doesn’t feel as empty anymore.

Later, alone in his apartment, Wade carefully placed Peggy the knitted platypus on his shitty excuse of a nightstand. He sat on his bed, intently studying the plushie.

[It looks like it’s going to murder you in your sleep.]

{But doesn’t that just add to its charm?}

[Not particularly.]

Wade picked it up and ran his fingers over Peggy’s soft plush. 

A minuscule part of him softened. “I like it.”

[Of course you would.])