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In the short but adventurous time Peter had known Frank, he had found out the guy actually had a lot of friends. Frank would grumble that they were more work buddies and annoyances than friends but Peter argued otherwise. He always found the interactions between the man and these various people interesting as more often than not they'd be all weirded out by his presence.
Today was another one of those days as he sat in civilian clothing with a huge menu in his hands and a rumbly belly. This was Frank's way of apologizing for shooting him. A meal for the older man that Peter would be taking advantage of to eat enough calories to keep this spider hybrid body of his nice and healthy. Ever since he had his spider puberty he had been hungrier and sleepier so food was a must.
He swung his legs back and forth hitting Frank purposely as he asked the man for his opinion. "So, are we getting any appetizers? They have Avengers-shaped mini pancakes."
"Appetizers are a scam. Get your drink first." Frank was no fun, especially now with him behaving as if the whole restaurant was about to shank them.
Nobody was even in there like that. Of course this was because of their absurd prices that Peter saw online and picked for the sole purpose of annoying the man. Still. Frank was too wound up and the twenty-something wanted him to calm down. Shooting him was a mistake, they both knew if Frank did it on purpose he would have been dead months ago. The former wanted man being upset over it was silly. Just as silly as the waffles he was going to order with gummy worms cooked in.
"You are so juvenile." Frank said once they were served and he was faced with the rainbow lump of half-cooked waffles the spider purred at.
He took a bite and just about passed out. It had been so long since he'd eaten anything that tasted so much like wealth. Like a sloppy meal you'd make after a day of riches and pure joy. "I'm walking on sunshine, Frank."
"You're on something alright. Are you sure regular drugs don't work on you?" The question was muffled as the man dug into his own food, plain-ass eggs.
Peter dunked his gummy worms and waffles into the frosting it was served with as he shrugged. "A lot doesn't work on me anymore due to being an arachnid."
He couldn't get drunk unless he literally risked alcohol poisoning at a level that would kill a man or leave them brain-dead. He tried to take a Tylenol once and was met with nothing but the disappointment of wasting his last five dollars on the pills. There were some benefits of course with his newfound spider mutation. He felt more like an animal with his spidey sense being better than ever and his organic webs had more punch than the inorganic ones. He also felt more at home in his body nowadays, like he had molted and been given a better mindset.
Frank said this was a classic sign of delusion but fuck him. "Plus I'm just happy to spend time with my senior citizen buddy who is always too busy to see me."
"I am middle-aged." The man huffed.
To which he eye-rolled. "Keep telling yourself that."
Frank ignored him and Peter smiled. Their friendship was definitely a weird one that he never imagined having. He heard about the Punisher when he was in school and from Tony. They always claimed he was a loose cannon who had zero morals and would kill anyone who crossed him. This left him a little frightened back in Staten Island when they first encountered each other. He expected the vigilante to shoot him in the head for getting in his way and irritating him. And to his credit, Frank did rough him up when he stopped him from decapitating some idiot crook.
But ya know, after they sat down and talked without the older man trying to gut him, a great partnership was formed. Sure. Frank did bother him with his refusal to use non-violence at times but he realized he couldn't be too judgemental considering the times they were in. If he was really a psychopath Peter doubted he'd be taking him out for meals and keeping him company when he was going nuts with loneliness. Apparently he was "the definition of the savior complex times ten" in the eyes of the man which he chose to shrug off.
Frank was a great guy!
"Sonuvabitch," said the great guy, ruining their platonic buddy date by cursing and grabbing one of his guns to the horror of the wait staff. "Murdock."
Peter kicked the man under the table. "Put your gun away!"
Frank refused to drop it and instead aimed it behind the spider with a hiss. "The devil is right behind you, and he's itching for a fight."
"Says the one who just tortured a man and left a pregnant woman to find his insides all over her carpet." That voice sent a shiver down the spider's spine as he recognized it but was in disbelief said person was actually here.
The devil marched right over to them and stole a seat from their table despite the fact Frank was prepared to blow his brains out. Matt Murdock being Daredevil rocked Peter's world and he had to wonder if the guy was truly blind if he could move that crazy. There had to be a mutation at play or maybe even Doctor Strange-esque magic. Sitting next to the man left Peter feeling giddy in a way that was downright psychotic but he wanted to talk to the guy. Matt didn't remember him which sucked but if he was a friend or frenemy of Frank that made him a friend or frenemy removed from him. Peter just wished this wasn't the topic of discussion.
"That man wasn't innocent." Frank was cold as he kept that gun trained on their guest of honor.
The devil was making his spidey sense go haywire as he leaned in and invited the gun's muzzle to his forehead. "I wouldn't know that. After all, you've been ignoring all of my calls."
"I don't have time for your lectures."
"But you have time for my cock in your ass."
The delivery reminded Peter of the old romance dramas he'd watch with May where the wife would finally let loose on her emotionally distant husband when announcing their divorce. Frank slammed his gun down on the table like he wanted to do the same right into the devil's poor skull. That made Peter give up on his waffles as the restaurant manager came running out screaming that they were going to call the cops if they didn't leave. The brooding couple paid no mind as they kept clawing at each other and Peter felt his doom spiral begin.
"What is this, Matt? You aren't the goddamn Mayor, investigating every death in the city."
"What do you have to do with some STEM tutor who touches kids?"
The mention of touching made the waffles he had just devoured threaten to spill all over the table. How did Matt know? Was he here to laugh at him? Yell at him for involving Frank in something so gruesome, for being so disgusting-
"He touched my kid."
The Punisher's words left Peter speechless for the first time in a long-time.
Frank didn't have time for Matt's bullshit. He told Peter to let him handle this, and the kid was all too happy to leave after his brunch was turned into a mess. Matt really knew how to ruin a good thing.
"I don't wanna hear it, Red." He growled as they left the restaurant and the blind asshole proceeded to hit him with his cane. "Stop that you fucker."
Matt, of course glared at him and pushed him into the alley behind the place before really ripping into him. "I don't get you, Frank. One minute you're considering stopping this endless blood bath and the next you're killing some random m–"
"–not a man. A pedophile, Matt. Yes. I killed a random pedophile the police let run wild with all sorts of kiddos for who knows how goddamn long." He pushed the man back, not caring if anyone overheard their lover's spat that moment.
He wasn't going to feel bad for killing a piece of scum even when Matt snapped at him as if he were a misbehaving child. "Who made you the judge and executioner, Frank? We both know you did this for a personal vendetta instead of justice."
"Really, red?" He got up in the lawyer's face and breathed down his neck. "How do ya know?"
"I could hear his heart rate go up when I mentioned how his body was found. You did it for that kid, didn't you? You did it to protect him." Matt spoke like it was some selfish sin, and it irritated him like nobody else ever had before in his life.
Frank cocked his head and snarled. "And that makes me get your goody little morals all twisted up? Because I didn't report him to the police?"
"Because you killed a man and never even thought of what that would do to the kid if they find out he's involved. You went in there and slaughtered him like an animal for the papers to post all around the city. Good old Punisher delivering somebody else's vengeance for once."
The devil clapped his hands as if to congratulate him. "Gutting a man like a fish and not even bothering to make sure the other victims even wanted that. Even wanted to wake up with this man's name on everyone's tongue, echoing in their heads for all to hear. Interviews of his students and his family calling them all a bunch of liars with thousands of comments agreeing."
They looked at each other and Matt hissed. "Good job ruining any chance of conviction."
His gun was like a separate entity from his body as it pushed against the side of the devil's head. "Fuck. Off."
Matt's face scrunched up in displeasure and he didn't even flinch from the threat. "You're acting this way because somewhere deep down you know you acted stupidly. You killed the guy for the kid, great. But now what does the kid do now that you've immortalized this man in the media? I saw the excuses his family made, I watched the comments on the press release."
"Media always protects creeps so I don't give a damn, Red." The gun was shaking as he thought of Peter seeing those disgusting videos he forced the man to reveal before he ended his life.
Videos Matt must have seen too, as he sighed deeply and spoke softer. "Frank. You protected him, but you never even thought of what comes next. How does this kid get better if now the entire world knows what happened? Why didn't you just report him?"
"Reporting never works; they could have just shrugged it off as some annoyed parent that wanted revenge for a bad tutoring job." He said.
Matt stood as he lowered the gun and asked another question. "Then why didn't you send over the videos and photographs anonymously?"
Frank laughed a hollow laugh. "I couldn't stomach the sick shit that man had much less touch it. The moment I saw a second of what he did to those boys my gun was begging to be used."
"So, you tortured him. Killed him and left the body for his entire family to see without any other thoughts." Matt explained with that annoying ass tone of disappointment.
He nodded, his weapon put away and the devil straightening his clothes as he recalled that night. "I wanted everyone to see him for what he was. Jail, counseling, what a load of bullshit. He needed to be dead Red, so I ended it."
"What happens if they connect the kid to you? What happens if they accuse the kid of planning this?" The devil then pushed him too far. "Did he plan this, Frank? Who is this guy and why are you so protective over him that you'd shoot a man fifty times for him?"
"Drop it." He wasn't going to expose Peter.
Of course the brat didn't give up. "No. This kid was sitting with you, a former wanted man, in public, speaking to you like you've known each other for a while. I have never heard you mention him once and we've not only worked together but slept together."
He grunted and waved the inquiries off. "You know my pillow talk is nonexistent when it comes to you."
"Frank. You don't just torture people, even secret pedophiles, for anyone. This kid is important to you and you've hidden him from me. I need to know the truth. Who is he?" What is he, why is he worth risking your freedom, is what they both knew Matt was actually asking him.
It only hit him then that Matt was worried for him which felt incredibly unnerving when they usually argued and then had sex with the lights off. "He's someone that didn't deserve being tormented with the knowledge that bastard was walking around this world untouched and happy as can be."
"You should have talked to me about this." His brat deflated and just shook his head as if he had been expecting better from him.
Like he had hoped that he was important enough to Frank to be included in such a personal choice. He hadn't thought about it that way and never would have even if Matt had personally asked him to. They weren't built to be that way with each other and the devil was torn up about it.
He found himself unable to apologize. "Talking would have been pointless when we both know you can't change anything about me."
"Is the kid involved? Was he there?" Matt didn't even bother to face him as he sat there and let the bitterness between them settle.
Frank wondered if they would ever even sleep in the same bed again. "No."
Silence. Then a plea. "Let me meet him."
"How bout no." He could practically hear how upset Matt was but this was bigger than their failed situationship. "Now, are we going to argue till the police come or are we ending this?"
"I'm not saying getting justice for the kid is wrong..." Matt ignored his question as he gave Frank one final cane strike before going to lick his wounds and no doubt rethink their allyship. "...all I'm asking is for a heads up next time."
Frank glared. "My work isn't your business, Matt."
"A lot isn't apparently."
"I didn't mean to ruin things with your boyfriend." The kid was fragile when he found him a week later out on patrol shaking like a leaf.
He paced, the jacket he was wearing over the suit flowing in the day's heavy wind as he moved. "I shouldn't have told you about it."
"Stop that before you piss me off. You did me and the whole country a favor by telling me about that creep." Frank marched over and cornered him.
He glared at the kid who hugged himself and stared at the ground. "Never apologize to me for that."
Peter nodded as he understood but then he crashed completely. "Are you mad at me?"
"Don't start." He hated how it was so easy to get angry, sound angry when he was truly just unsure of what to do. "I'm mad at the corpse in the ground."
"But Ma–" the spider whined only for Frank's tensing at the mere mention of the devil shutting him up.
The older man sighed. "Matt is holier than thou but trust me he would have beaten the guy toothless and hauled him to the police. Anyone angry at you over him is a dead man."
"The news. His family. How can someone like that have a family and friends?" Peter agonized; he tore himself apart as he gave Frank a look of guilt. "Me saying something hurt so many people."
"So? They needed to know the truth and I wasn't going to let him walk around free knowing what he did to you. I was killing him even if you tried to claim it never happened." And that was final.
Peter let out a loud exhale before nodding again and stopping his pacing. They were at an awkward standstill, with Frank never being the hugging type but Peter clearly needing one. In the end, the older man waited for the spider to calm down before helping him get home. Patrol could wait especially with news of Skip's murder hitting the news hard.
Frank hated to admit it but Matt had been right that turning the man into Swiss cheese for his wife to find had made it a hot topic. The victims who were identified in the material were bombarded with questions about their involvement in the murder. Everyone seemed to forget who really mattered and sensationalized every aspect, prying into everyone's lives.
Nowhere was safe as people hounded these adults and children about the worst time in their lives. Some were even asked if they could retell what happened in graphic detail which made Frank snarl. Everyone was discussing it and asking why the Punisher went so ape shit on the man. People theorized he found out about the videos and decided to send Skip a message to all predators that the Punisher would be after them.
Others debated if he had come for someone else and Skip was easy prey he happened to find out about. It was a lot to take in and Frank didn't give a damn what anyone thought but he could tell Peter did. The kid barely looked at his phone for once. Instead, he got into some sweats and lay down on the couch with a dead look in his eyes. Frank hated it, he hated that even though the piece of crap was gone Peter still was haunted by him.
"I thought if he didn't remember then it didn't matter anymore. I-I thought it wouldn't hurt anymore." Peter muttered as Frank sighed.
"Memory or not, that bastard was a real freak. He was ready to cry when he saw us so even if his mind didn't know, his body did." He recalled the way the man said multiple names as he tried to figure out which boy the Punisher was avenging. "Trust me."
"I know. I know there were other kids; it's just there's a weight on me. Nobody will know what he did because it never happened." Peter had his face in his hands as he ranted. "No one remembers the social service reports. The talks I had to do as a kid. There's no record of him touch-"
He didn't finish that part, dry heaving into empty air before continuing. "Everyone got to forget what happened besides me. Everyone got to move on besides me. He got to forget about me, but I will never be able to forget about him."
A tremor went through his body as he whispered a confession. "I'm happy he's dead."
"Don't hide that. Shout it. Fuck him and fuck anyone who tries to make you get all weepy for a bastard like that." The Punisher, not Frank, demanded.