Chapter Text
“Jackal you're not home riiiiiiight?”
The cheerful raspy deep voice tore through the silence of the lab the young man had spend his entire life in, the voice triggered something though, memories that were his, but not really. He instinctively pulled a makeshift mask he made from a shirt laying around over his head.
“Jackal is long gone Deadpool...”
“Spidey?... What are you doing here...? What's with the weird mask?”
“I am not Spider-Man... well not really anyway...”
“You're a clone?”
He saw the cheerful merc look at him curiously, leaning sideways, ogling his butt before grinning satisfied as he nodded in a secure manner.
“A clone, 'cuz only baby boy has that nice of a butt...”
The memories involving Deadpool pushed themselves to the forefront, the original Spider-Man hated him, but something told him it was for different reasons than the hero convinced himself of. Then again, he was just a failed science experiment so what did he know.
“Just a measly clone, a science experiment gone wrong...”
“Cheer up baby, I am a science experiment gone very wrong too... or maybe I went very right and I am just crazy...”
“Well at least you know who you are...”
“You'd be surprised, my brain has been scrambled so many times, I have a handful of origin stories and I have no idea anymore what's the truth...”
“You have a name though...Wade Wilson, I am just experiment god knows number how many...”
“Well; then I'll name you! Arthur! Because it's part of Bea Arthur's name and no one is as epic and awesome as Bea Arthur, so from now on you're Arthur!”
'Arthur' couldn't help but laugh a little at that as he watched his company through the holes of his crummy mask, he wondered if it was the first time he ever laughed, he quickly realized it was. Somehow that only made him laugh some more, until some tears ran down the eye holes of his mask, making it moist there.
“Arthur it is...” he snorted slightly, hiding his weak sniffs as best as he could, feeling the firm arm of the merc drop on his shoulders. He was suddenly very self conscious of the state of his body, skinny and weak, not in the toned but lean shape of his original counterpart.
“I was here to pick up some tech, cloning tech goes for high price you know... but the place seems pretty much empty apart from you Arthi... so I am taking you along!”
“Do I get a say in this?”
“Nope! You do however get this really cool Spider-Man hoody to wear and we're getting taco bell on the way home!”
Wade dropped a hoody on his lap that he had seemingly pulled out of nowhere and when he had moved to slowly Wade even helped him put it on. The merc seemed impatient now that he had talked about food and pulled him on his feet. A knife suddenly flashed in his line of sight, he flinched, but his spider-sense didn't trigger so he stayed still as the man cut his mask. The merc stood behind him as he carefully cut the mask so it would only cover his lower half of his face, throwing the top half on the ground as he put the hood over Arthur's head. Arthur sighted relieved as his face was hidden from sight in the shadow of the hood.
“I won't force you to let me see you, but we're going out in public and you'd have stood out like that...”
“Thank you for respecting my privacy... well his privacy...”
“You're welcome... you'd pay me the same respect right?”
A memory forced itself to the forefront, him, no Peter, insulting Wade while tearing his mask of his face. The hurt and betrayed fear in the man's voice as he had screamed 'foul' several times stung in his mind making him pause for a moment.
“Of course Wade, us science mishaps stick together...”
After picking up some take away taco bell on the way to a cozy rented apartment with Wade he already had seen a different side of the mercenary than his borrowed memories would have made him believe. He had seen Wade leave a rather large tip for the server that handled their order, dish out a taco from the bag and give it to a homeless person they passed and he had felt the comforting hand on his back the entire walk here.
They sort of ended up on the couch in front of the television, putting on some of those weird night time movies as they ate their burritos and tacos. Wade ordered enough to feed an army, but apparently they both were hungry, because they finished the load of food together, their hands touching as they reached for the last burrito.
“You take it Arthi you're too skinny...”
“We can share you know...”
“No it's fine, I had enough...just wanted to check what was left.”
Now Arthur was pretty sure it was a lie from his host, but decided not to push it as he happily finished the last burrito enjoying the taste of the food before he took a sip from the soda Wade had given him.
It was after a few sips of that soda that he realized just how intensely Wade was staring at him, like he was expecting him to disappear at any moment. To his knowledge Wade had no previous experience with clones from Jackal, but then again the man had seemed to know Jackal.
“Say...Wade...am I your first?”
“My first sorta kidnapped guest? No...”
“No... no... I mean am I your first... Jackal creation....”
“Oooooh... no... Jackal once bought me off by giving me five really cute girls...Gwen I think they were called... they... just kinda... disappeared after a few days though...”
The name Gwen felt like a sucker punch, memories filled his conscious mind, sending a wave of anger through him, as well as an overwhelming feeling of loss and powerlessness. His face was still hidden from his host's view and he was thankful for that, because Arthur was quiet sure he would look as crazed as Goblin on a bad day right now. So he soundlessly whispered the mantra that had kept him sane through all of Jackal's mental prodding: “These are not my memories, this isn't who I am.” that one line repeated over and over as he pushed the memories away was what stood between him and attacking Wade violently for all the things he could possibly have done with Gwen Stacy.
It took him a while to realize that Wade was still talking about what had happened, telling him about how he had asked the Gwens to help his blind friend around the house because she had broken her foot, it made him feel like an asshole, because once again his memories had made him suspect the worst of his host, even though the man had taken him in, knowing he probably would be dying on him soon.
“Where you there when they died?”
“... No... I was out on a mission, I returned to a worried blind woman and outfits with dust piles....”
“Gwen... was my... was Spider-Man's girlfriend... she died...”
“I am sorry Arthur.”
Warm arms wrapped around him as the supposedly heartless mercenary pulled him in a hug. It made him feel safe, together with his full stomach and the load of emotions that had washed through him it made exhaustion rear up it's ugly head. As he buried his face in the mercenaries chest he didn't even mind the smell of his host, sinking away in a slumber that for once wasn't riddled with terrors.
He woke up to the scent of pancakes, which was ultimately a first for him. It took him some time to realize that he was tucked in on the couch, the hood had shifted off in his sleep, but he felt a mask on him, judging from the smell it was Wade's mask. He half wondered if the merc had seen his face, though he doubted he would have for some reason.
“♫ Gooood morning! ♫“
“Wade... Good morning... are you always so energetic?”
“Maaaaaaybe, come on and eat, the pancakes are getting cold!”
Arthur stared in shock at the load of pancakes in the kitchen, the plate was stacked so high the pancake pile looked like a mini tower of Pisa. So he hurried to the table and picked a few of the top pancakes before the thing fell over and all that food would go to waste.
“You know Wade... I am not quiet sure if this will be enough pancakes...”
He couldn't help but grin as he made that statement, pulling the mask up till over his nose to eat, letting his grin be revealed to the mercenary. To his surprise it pulled a joyous laugh from the man as he sat down to eat as well, coating his pancakes with a sea of maple syrup.
“Your Canadian is showing...”
“Don't judge what you haven't tried baby.”
“Hit me up then you weirdo”
Arthur should have regretted that seeing as the table pretty much ended up covered in maple syrup as they both ended up laughing as he eventually had to admit it tasted great. They had quiet a load of left overs that ended up wrapped in foil before being placed in the fridge after which they did the dishes together.
As soon as he blocked out Peter Parker's memories and just enjoyed his time with Wade he actually saw a funny, annoying, hyperactive, caring guy. Though he could see a darkness in the man as well, by the way he shivered and tried to hide when he caught him looking at the scars on his body, the way he worked a knife when he was making food, the hidden shiver when Arthur passed him behind his back. Both of them had gone through hell and back several times and they found kinship in each other, both hiding their faces for completely different reasons.
“Hey Wade... why do you still like Spider-Man so much?”
“Well, he's a good guy, I mean he treats me better than a lot of other people, and he's a hero like I want to be...”
“But he's a complete asshole towards you more often than not...?”
“Everyone is, well except for Preston... and Bob... Al sometimes and Weasel when he's not backstabbing me...”
“Why do you love him?”
For the first time since that morning Wade was silent as he fumbled with the remote. The man seemed super uncomfortable around that question and Arthur was regretting that he had asked, when he noticed Wade put down the remote and put his hands over his face like he was trying to disappear in them.
“I...I don't know... I am attracted to him because he's hot, but it goes beyond that, but I don't know why...”
Arthur reached to place a comforting hand on Wade's leg, but his hand felt strange, as he looked at it he could see it starting to flake, it was slow at first, like an itch, the feeling spread quickly. He glanced up as Wade placed his hand over his, looking at him as they both registered what was going on.
He wasn't ready, he had been so ready to go, to disappear a day before, but now Arthur wasn't ready, he didn't want to leave this man on his own, he didn't want to lose this warmth he had found, but he had no choice.
“I'll tell you a secret...he doesn't hate you... he's afraid of what he sees in you... because you remind him... of what he could have become.”
He felt Wade pull him close as he talked, he could feel the man's heart race and his mind race, he could barely process what Wade was babbling about, he could hear the words healing factor, sharing it, Alex, but he couldn't quiet process it anymore as the itching turned to burning, before it turned to nothing. Still before his existence became nothing he processed one last thing, it was the sound of a damaged voice weeping, begging him to stick with him and more than anything, he wished he could.