Work Text:
It wasn’t always like this. There had been a time in Peter’s life when Wade wasn’t part of it. When Peter didn’t know a walking paradox such as Deadpool even existed. The thought of him never even crossed the younger hero’s mind.
And then there was a time in Peter’s life where he really thought he hated Wade. Even though they sometimes fought together, there just seemed to be too many differences between them. He hated the rash decision making, he hated the violent outbursts, he hated the completely insane way the mercenary talked, and he really hated how life, his own or another person’s, seemed to hold no value in Deadpool’s eyes.
Then came a time when Peter started trying to understand Wade. He now knew about the healing factor, but sometimes it slipped his mind. Like when hit monkey was after Wade. He had honestly seemed so scared, and Peter was worried about this killer roaming New York, so helping keep Deadpool safe seemed like the right thing to do. They were hiding, after bullets had been fired at them, and Wade said he’d be okay in about 20 minutes. And then Peter remembered the healing factor, and he was angry and tried to urge Wade into getting shot by hit monkey so it would leave the city. When he wouldn’t go for the plan, because getting shot hurts, Peter didn’t have time to think about what that meant before hit monkey attacked again. After everything was said and done, and he was at home trying to sleep, he did think about it though. He thought about how just because Wade wouldn’t die from a wound didn’t mean he didn’t feel the pain every time. Then he thought about how the scars on Wade’s skin are always changing and how badly that must hurt, and he thought about how many times Wade had done something seemingly small, like get his arm broken or get a knife stabbed right through his hand, to protect Spiderman and said “that’s what friends do, right?”. And he thought about how he would laugh it off or say something rude back instead of saying a sincere “thank you”, like Wade really did deserve. He also thought about how he didn’t actually protect Wade because he was so worried about a killer monkey, the monkey only killed bad guys. He helped Wade because… because he wanted to help Wade. After he had thought about all of this, Peter decided maybe he didn’t hate the crude humour or violent outbursts as much as he thought he did. Maybe it was better than what Wade could’ve become after all he’d been through.
Next, there was a time when Peter became friends with Wade. Real friends, not just “two dudes in spandex fighting some bad guys together and then not talking again for months” kind of friends. It started about 3 months after the hit monkey incident, when Peter did thank Wade for doing something stupid. In this case he had gotten his whole hand sliced off in a fight with some weird ass ninja-type villain. And then his left leg, and some of his face too. Peter also had had a broken rib because of this man, and was left with too many bruises; he pretended to be asleep when Wade told him that he had “un-alived” the guy. Anyway, a few days after when Deadpool brought Mexican food to the roof Spiderman was sitting on and the only sound was the obnoxious chewing of food, a thank you was said. Wade kind of slowed his chewing and gave Peter a sideways glance through his mask (maybe to make sure it wasn’t a joke) then nodded and said “Yeah. Not really sure if it was worth it though!” and punched his friend lightly in the arm. Taco Tuesdays became a regular thing after this, and they gradually became less awkward and tense, and more fun. One night Peter remarked on how Taco Tuesdays weren’t even usually on Tuesday, and Wade added that they don’t even always have tacos (to his disappointment!). The two then decided to start hanging out at Wade’s place for videogames sometimes. Not Peter’s though, secret identity was still a thing. They spent more time at Wades than the pair thought they might’ve. Actually, Peter was over there almost every second day to eat and lounge around playing games. It was nice hanging out with someone who understood Spiderman as a friend, not a hero figure or some pesky vigilante.
The next stage of Peter’s life with Wade was the sleepover stage. This would usually fit into the “friends” stage, but it’s kind of different when you feel safe sleeping next to one of the most dangerous (and unstable) men in the world. Well actually, Peter probably wouldn’t describe the night of the first time he slept at Wade’s as feeling safe. It was stupid of him to try and help Matt, more commonly known as Daredevil, after he had been told to stay out of it. Matt had warned him that even though these guys were 100% human, they weren’t like the villains that Spiderman was used to. But, being the helpful kid that he is, Peter had followed along anyway. When Matt had said they weren’t like the guys Spidey was used to, he hadn’t been expecting much. He thought maybe they were stronger or a little smarter or something. No biggie. He definitely wasn’t expecting fucking ninjas who could slow down their heart rate and become so silent that his spider-sense wouldn’t even kick in until the exact moment he was being attacked. He didn’t even think that was possible. But hey, you learn something new every day, right? They lost, obviously. Peter was bleeding a lot, and he knew Matt could smell it, and it hurt like hell, but because Matt didn’t know his secret identity Peter was able to convince him that he lived close, that he could make it home. He knew that catching these guys was important to Matt. So off he went, chasing after them with his super hearing or whatever, while Peter laid on the ground and stared at the black sky and thought about how stupid he was and how much his whole body ached. After a few minutes of his useless whining to himself, he managed to get off the ground and shoot a few webs, hopefully going the right direction. Every move sent a new ripple of pain through his body, and he was starting to feel the blood oozing out of the many cuts and tears in his skin. His web didn’t make it far enough for him to swing to the next building, and he couldn’t go anymore so he lowered himself to the ground, smacking against a few balconies on the way down. He just laid there on the sidewalk, drenched in his own blood, and hoped no one saw. Because Spiderman needed to always be strong for the people. He didn’t have enough time to consider the fact that he might actually be dying before he passed out. He woke up on a bed that wasn’t comfortable, at all, in a room that smelled like socks. Pure stinky sock air. What even was oxygen? It honestly could’ve been his own room with that stench, so he wasn’t nervous at all until he realized how much his leg hurt. And then he realized how much his side hurt, and then he realized how much everything hurt. He remembered the fight of the night before and groaned as he rolled over sideways. He wasn’t freaked out or worried, he knew the only other place that smelled this bad was Wade’s apartment. He didn’t know how Wade found him but that didn’t matter much anymore as he finally opened his eyes all the way and saw the Advil and water on the nightstand table. He crawled over and swallowed the pills as quickly as he could, then (painfully) sat up and took a look around the room while sipping on the rest of the water. It was gross. Lots of dirty clothes on the floor, if there even was a floor because he really couldn’t tell with the mess, walls with stains (mostly blood…?) and some dirty dishes on an empty bookshelf. It was a small room. Wade’s whole apartment was fairly small actually, which surprised Peter considering he knew that the merc was pretty damn rich. Apparently it was because most of his money was spent on weapons, but Peter didn’t know if he believed that. He finally got around to calling for said merc when he realized there was a new, tastier smell coming through the door. Pancakes of course. Wade entered the room dramatically, carrying a huge plate of pancakes in one hand like a fancy waitress, and a glass of orange juice in the other. He was wearing a frilly pink apron over his usual sweatpants and long sleeve, which had made Peter roll his eyes and smile before he noticed that the Deadpool mask was still on Wade’s face. He had a moment of panic as he reached up to touch his own face and found that his mask was gone. They’d seen each other’s faces before, but only once and it was briefly. Peter was about to freak out but Wade shook his head as he put the pancakes and juice on the nightstand table. “I had to check for head injuries! You know I wouldn’t usually, but man, you were really badly injured. Like, really bad. You’re lucky you were passed out when I stitched those things up, even I might’ve cried,” His words were joking but his tone sounded pretty worried. Peter considered it for a moment before he let out a “yeah, thanks.” and tried to grab a pancake. Wade moved the plate away though, and shook his finger at the younger boy. “Nope, not until you explain to me why I had to come outside, at 4am, in my fucking pajamas after hearing some weird ass sounds outside my window, to find you drowning the beautiful sidewalk crack plants with your blood.” Ah. So that’s how Wade found Peter. Still feeling like an idiot about how he didn’t listen to Matt the night before, Peter fired back with, “I’m not telling you that until you tell me why you’ve still got your mask on even after you took mine off,” Wade groaned and pulled his mask off, rolling his eyes as he did, just to make a scene about it. Peter glared, “That doesn’t answer my question, jackass”. Wade glared back, “Most people who just almost died would probably think that they’ve actually made it to hell if they woke up and saw this,” he gestures to his face, “Now tell me why that situation applies to you. What happened baby boy?”. Peter goes to hit Wade for calling him baby boy but there’s a sharp pain in his side and he yelps and falls back onto the bed. Wade reaches over and gently pats his back, “seriously, tell me.” So Peter tells Wade what happened, and how stupid he was. Surprisingly, the merc doesn’t make too much fun of his friend and actually tells him that it wasn’t that dumb, that it was Matt who was dumb for taking those guys on alone. Peter later finds out that Deadpool had actually already known what had happened as Matt had called before Peter woke up, and Wade had given him a lecture about how much Peter mattered to him and how he shouldn’t of let him anywhere near those fucking ninjas. Peter also later finds out (from Matt) about how Wade’s voice had cracked while he yelled at Matt and how the reason he was still wearing his mask when Peter woke up is that he didn’t want his puffy, red rimmed eyes to be noticed. That was for later though, and Peter was currently content eating pancakes and listening to one of his best friend’s crazy stories. They had a lot more sleep overs after that, most of which were quite a bit less painful.
After the constant hanging out, and sleep overs, and rooftop discussions, Peter and Wade entered a new stage. Now, Wade had constantly teased Peter about how “cute” he was, and called him pet names like “sweetheart”, “babycakes”, and his favourite, “baby boy”, but Peter had always thought that that was just Wade being Wade. So when he came to the realization that hey, maybe he wanted to be a little more than friends with the merc, every one of the offhanded compliments or pet names gave him a pinch in his heart. He didn’t mean to start liking Wade like this, and honestly felt kind of weird about it considering he still felt like he was fresh out of high school, 20 years old, and he assumed Wade to be 30 something, and there was the fact that Peter never really thought he was into guys, and the fact that Wade literally killed people for a living. Not as much anymore, for sure, but he still did. But still, one night when Peter stayed at Wade’s apartment after a particularly messy fight with someone Wade obviously knew, but wouldn’t tell the younger anything about, Peter wakes around 3am to the sound of Wade’s voice. He’s staring out the window, sitting on a big old comfy chair that Peter urged him to buy. Peter can’t really make out the words, Wade’s talking pretty quietly and quickly, but his tone of voice sounds pained. He just keeps talking to himself. “Wade?” Peter, groans, still not really sure what’s going on. Wade turned around, looking at Peter and then got up and crawled back into bed, laying flat on his back. “Who were you talking to?” Peter asked. Wade gave him a sideways glance and said, “You know who. The boxes.” Peter let out a short laugh before quickly realizing his friend isn’t joking. “You’re serious?” Peter questioned, and after Wade nodded he said, “Well shit… this whole time I thought you were just trying to be funny with all that talk about the boxes. I feel really awful.” He sat up and turned to Wade, who looked like he was somewhere else inside his head. His eyes focussed again and he waves his hand, “Its okay. I uh, probably should’ve left it that way. Now you know I’m really crazy for sure, huh? Not that you didn’t before.” Wade mumbles on for a bit before realizing Peter hasn’t said anything, and is just staring at him. “Should I go…?” He asks, sounding unsure. Peter snapped out of it then, “Nonono, sorry I just…” He trailed off as he lay back down and moved Wade’s arm, snuggling up to his side. “Is this okay?” He asks, and Wade just let out a breathy, “yeah,” before they both fell into silence. Neither of them slept yet, just enjoying each other’s presence.
Now’s a time when Wade really thinks he hates Peter. Everything was so good. He had stopped killing for the most part, only taking a job once every few months so that they had enough money to live off of, in the apartment that they recently started sharing, officially. He had met Aunt May, she’s such a lovely lady. She wasn’t rude to Wade, ever. Honestly if he wasn’t in love with Peter, she probably could’ve been the one for him. In love. He never got to say it to his boyfriend. It was ridiculous actually, after all that Peter Parker had been through, his life of secrets and radioactive spiders and fighting bad guys and saving fucking kittens from mother fucking trees, he had to go in a car crash. Not even his own car, no. A taxi. In the middle of New York, the city he lived for, Spiderman died in a car crash. And no one knew it was Spiderman. There would be no mourning, no sense of loss, the city would just assume that Spiderman had quit of them. Wade hates Peter for leaving, he hates Peter for helping him so much that now that he’s alone, he has no clue what to do with himself. But mostly, Wade hates himself. He hates himself for not becoming the hero that he once wanted to be for Peter, but instead taking on more mercenary missions to let out the pain, he hates himself for having the fucking healing factor, he hates himself for not being able to die.