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The apartment was silent, as it was most days when Ned worked. Michelle was out to an interview and wouldn't be back for an hour, Peter was patrolling and wouldn't stop by until that night, and they purposely hadn't been inviting anyone over—not even Paul—so that the Spider-Man secret didn't get out.
So Ned was alone, as he was often, working. He didn't find the world that grueling, but it consumed a lot of time. He used to have more things to do, but his task list was small at the moment, so his boredom took over.
He eased back in his chair and spun to the side. It was an automatic reaction—each time he had a few moments to ponder life, he tried to figure out who Spider-Man was. The board he used to keep up was now gone. It was placed in Ned's room, hidden away.
There was no mystery left to solve. Ned knew Spider-Man. He had known him for years. His best friend was the person Ned had searched for, and if that didn't feel like soulmatism, then what did? What could?
However, as Ned shifted back to look at his center monitor, the nagging feeling didn't leave.
Just because he knew who Peter Parker was didn't mean that everything fell back into place. There were still bits and pieces missing. There were glaringly obvious changes in his best friend, too.
Peter seemed nervous a lot, like he wasn't sure how to interact with humans. It wasn't a spider thing, Ned was pretty sure. It was a social isolation issue. Ned had been trying to get Peter to come over more often, which had worked well so far, but how long would that last?
Something had shifted in the years they spent apart. Ned was never going to be able to fix that, so he'd just have to make up for it now. He had years of stories to tell Peter, and millions of memories to create with him.
As Ned took out his phone to message Peter to ask if he wanted to do anything over the weekend, there was a crash from their living area.
Ned was getting used to that noise, but this felt louder. He's certain that he heard Glass shatter, which was weird, because Peter was always respectful of their apartment. Peter didn't want Ned or Michelle to get into trouble.
Holding onto his phone just in case he needed to sound an emergency to Peter, Ned walked out. He cautiously peeked around the corner and saw a familiar suit, but it seemed more bloody than normal.
Look, Ned knew that injuries were normal in the whole vigilante business, but he hated it. He rushed toward Peter, not even minding that Peter had once sworn he would never drag blood across their floor.
Yet, as Ned neared, he realized something was off about Peter's posture.
There was no relaxation, or even worry. Just… tension. Peter didn't look at Ned at all. He focused on clutching his side while looking around the room, seemingly distressed about something. He paid Ned no notice, as if Ned didn't mean a thing to him.
That's when Ned realized there was something off about Peter's eyes. This Spider-Man suit still had Peter's eyes covered, but the material was thinner, and seeing Peter's eyes up close was normal.
But Peter's eyes were funky. They weren't human eyes, that's for sure. Ned had never seen this before. They were entirely black; there was no white of Peter's eyes left. It was almost like Peter was possessed or—
It was like a spider's.
As Peter continued to ignore him, Ned knew what to do. He scrolled through the contacts in his phone, clicking on his most used. When the call went to voice mail, he expected it. So he left a message that he hoped she got soon.
"Hey, MJ, uh… Weird spider shit is happening with Peter. He's injured and acting really, really strange. Mind coming home as soon as you can? I don't know how to handle this on my own."
When Ned turned back around after making the call, he heard small little thwips. It wasn't strange, so strange. Ned had no idea what was happening. Peter stalked around the apartment until he settled near the couch, looking up before nodding appreciatively.
Peter was ruining their living room. He didn't speak, didn't even attempt to talk. He just used his webs and pulled himself to the ceiling. He was doing some pretty freaky stuff. In fact, it looked familiar. Where had Ned seen something like that before?
"Oh, man… is that a web? A web nest— No, what's it called? A cocoon? Is Peter making a fucking cocoon!?"
Look, Ned had searched up Spider-Man for years. He didn't mean to brag, but he was on Reddit. He was well known there, even. He knew about all of the crazy conspiracies about Spider-Man being an actual spider, or at least more spider than man.
He had heard hundreds of theories, but he had to say, he never considered that Peter would actually do one of them.
"So it's true that he cocoons to heal his wounds? Not even like a spider… more like a caterpillar or something?"
By the time Michelle arrived home, she was out of breath, and Peter's cocoon was finished.
Ned practically raced to the door to hug her. He needed the emotional support because he had no idea what to do.
Peter wasn't paying them any mind. In fact, he looked peaceful, his mask falling away in the process of his cocoon making. He was asleep, and no matter how much noise Ned made, Peter didn't flinch. Michelle might not have to see the black-eyed spider thing that Ned saw. Good for her, but bad for Ned.
The eyes of pure darkness would haunt Ned. Even if Peter was non-threatening, Ned was having a hard time putting aside Peter's eyes. Ned was coping with it by trying to think of friendly spiders of his past. Peter was simply a friendly spider. Nothing was wrong here.
Michelle hesitantly walked toward the webs around their living room. Her hesitancy disappeared, replaced by wide eyes and noises of awe.
"This…" Michelle observed the cocoon with curiosity. "What made him do this? Did he say anything?"
Ned shook his head. Honestly, that was the most concerning thing. Peter was upfront about his previous incidents with his arachnid hormones. Aggression was a main trait of it, one that Peter warned MJ and Ned about. He gave them both a universal inhibitor for emergencies.
"He didn't speak a single word, MJ. He just—" Ned's voice grew in pitch as he gestured with both hands at the sleeping Spider-Man, "—just came here and made his cocoon."
Michelle took in the information, a perplexed expression crossing her face. "You said he was injured."
"He was!" Ned gestured to the cocoon, to where a small red spot was on the side of Peter's torso, bleeding through the webs. "He still is. I think this might be—"
"He's healing…?"
"Exactly! Maybe this is a part of his arachnid hormones. He's trying to heal himself. He must have decided that the best place to do that was here. I checked Spidey Tracker, and he was nearby."
Ned had been putting in new updates into his app lately. He was trying to get it so that users of Spidey Tracker could begin to list a small blurb of what they saw Spider-Man doing. Hopefully it could help ease Ned's troubles so he wasn't constantly worrying his friend was out there, hurt and in pain. Peter was the type not to tell them if he was injured... Just like with today. Ned hadn't known until Peter showed up.
Michelle closed her eyes, took a breath. When she opened her eyes, she said with trepidation, "So we should leave him as is?"
"Well, we could, but there were other things too."
"Like what?"
"His eyes," Ned said, gesturing to his own face, "they were completely black. Like a void. It was kind of cute, but honestly, I was too terrified at the moment to appreciate it. I wished I got a picture because he reminds me of our 9th grade science classroom pet."
"Miss. Garff?" Michelle asked. "The tarantula that hated everyone the entire year? Everyone aside from…" She paused, looking at Ned for a long moment.
"Everyone aside from Peter!" confirmed Ned. "Peter looked just like her! He had Miss. Garff's beady little black eyes."
Ned was smiling because he didn't want to think bad things about his best friend. Peter was Peter. If he so happened to be more spider than normal today, he had to accept it.
And also because…
"Alright," Michelle said, officially creeped out, "I'm making the executive decision to call in one of Spider-Man's buddies."
Michelle did not like spiders. She did not like bugs in general. It wasn't like she wanted to see them eradicated or anything, but she didn't want anything crawling on her, especially in the safety of her home.
Ned shook his hand in the air, practically gasping at the sheer idea of it. "We can't expose his identity like that!"
Michelle turned to him with a smirk, like she already knew what to do. "We know at least one person who for sure knows Peter's identity."
"… Jean Grey? You want to invite her back into our home after everything?"
"The Punisher," Michelle corrected, though she looked thoughtful for a moment as if she was considering inviting Jean Grey too. When Ned didn't register the insanity she said, she added, "Frank." Ned blinked. "Come on, you know Frank. The chili guy I told you about."
Ned was going to have a heart attack, and it wasn't because of his energy drink abuse or stress. It was because he was surprised one too many times. Michelle was going to accidentally kill him and she'd be so upset over it.
"You mean the Frank who made you the best chili you've had in your entire life—not that it's saying much—is the freaking Punisher, MJ!?"
Michelle confirmed with a nod, adding in a faint, "Yeah."
"What the hell—"
Michelle brushed off his fiery comment. She turned to him, gaze serious. She was ready to get on with the show. She was going to get Peter off of the ceiling. Something was up. He had never recovered from an injury in this way.
"Just hand me his phone," she said, hand out and ready to receive it.
"I don't have his phone."
"What do you mean—" Michelle paused, then swallowed as she gave it consideration. She turned her head up to the cocoon Peter was in. "He still has it?"
"I think so? I don't know for sure." Ned thought for a long moment. There was a sure-fire way to find out. "I could call it."
Ned fiddled with his phone. It was a lifeline. He checked for notifications constantly, always wondering where Spider-Man was sighted. And if he was okay. Ned needed to make sure that Peter was alive and well.
"That's… That's a good idea," Michelle said. She lifted her hand up and jerked her thumb to the rest of the house. "Let me get a ladder first, and then—"
The sound of instruments filled the room. Specifically, the sound of The Imperial's March.
Ned had called Peter's phone with no delay. The ringing came from up above. It was the ringtone Ned chose for himself on Peter's phone when they were 12. Ned had no idea that Peter kept it up this entire time.
Michelle and Ned stared at a small glow of light through the web cocoon on the ceiling. The phone seemed to be located near Peter's right hip.
"Are you sure you can't just, like, stand on your tippy toes to reach it?" Ned asked.
Michelle leveled him a stare, and then sighed. They didn't have that tall of walls here. Maybe…
"I can try," Michelle said, not looking too sure about it.
Ned smiled, both from nerves and excitement, as Michelle stood on the couch to reach up to Peter a few seconds later. Peter did not wake up, not even as Michelle dug through the webs to get his phone. She made gagging noises when the white silk slid between her fingers. She was so brave; Ned could never do what she did.
Finally, though, Michelle was able to break through the cocoon and grab Peter's phone. She practically threw it at Ned before going to the kitchen. She washed her hands repeatedly, trying to get rid of the odd texture.
Once Michelle had spent about 5 minutes washing her hand, she looked up at Ned and said, "Let's do this."
Getting Peter's phone unlocked was easy. For some reason, a voice greeted Michelle and Ned with a soft, "Access Granted: Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones."
"Whoa." Ned knew that some Stark Phones could do that, but never for multiple people, only for the owner of the phone. "This is so rad."
Michelle seemed wigged out by it, but shook her head and then focused on the point: they needed to find a way to contact the Punisher through Peter's phone. Peter had to have some contacts, right?
Ned watched as Michelle opened Peter's contacts. It was honestly terrifying how few numbers there were and for them to recognize most by name.
Delmar's
Dr. Banner
Frank - skull guy
Frank - little caesars
Happy
MJ
Mrs. Pepper
Ned
Nick - skrull(?)
Yelena
Michelle pressed on Frank's number, ignoring the Little Caesars contact. Ned couldn't believe she did it so casually. This was the Punisher, MJ! We could die! The Punisher wasn't the type of person you called willy-nilly.
Putting the phone on speaker, Michelle waited. Ned's breath hitched with every ring. Michelle had truly done it. She called the Punisher. They were going to die.
But then— "Fuckin' hell, kid, why are you calling me?"
"Mr. Punisher?" Ned said, half-gasping and half-dying.
"… Who the hell are you?"
Michelle spoke up, "Hey, Frank, my man… It's Michelle. From the boat house a little while back."
There were sounds of explosions. Ned was going to pass out. This wasn't fake. The Punisher was on the other end of the line. The Punisher, who had a high kill count, and repeatedly made claims on live television that he would kill who needed to be killed.
In theory, Ned knew that Peter worked with the Punisher, but this made reality fall ever so much more on his shoulders.
There was a large sigh. "Why did the kid give you my number?"
"He didn't," Ned supplied, instinctively trying to survive this conversation.
Frank's voice turned gruff, a hard edge in it. "You stole it? Am I hearing this shit correctly? You fuckin' shit heads stole—"
"No," Michelle said calmly. "We're borrowing his phone. He is… not able to be reached right now. We'd appreciate it if you could come over and take a look at him."
"Damn, is he out of action?"
"Something like that."
Ned eyes widened as he heard a string of curses. Frank had quite the vocabulary. And the explosions hadn't stopped. The Punisher was probably massacring a cartel, not that anyone much minded. The Punisher operated in his own gray area.
"I'll be right there." Frank hung up. It was a daunting, horrifying thing.
Michelle and Ned looked at each other. Ned's heart was racing, adrenaline and panic making themselves known. Michelle was no better. She even whisper-shouted, "We called the Punisher and he picked up! I wasn't sure if it'd work."
How the both of them were alive, Ned didn't know.
There wasn't a knock on the door. When Frank arrived, he arrived with no glamour. It was all aggression and preparedness. He had an emergency aid kit in one hand, and an inhibitor tucked tightly in his pocket.
Ned nearly pissed himself when Frank walked into their apartment.
The Punisher was everything that the rumors said he'd be. Ned was going to keel over and die from Frank's sheer presence. How Michelle managed to stay standing and not feel the need to hide was astounding.
"Where's he at?" Frank barked out.
Michelle blinked, then very slowly pointed to the ceiling.
Frank followed her movement, looking at the webs with increasingly large eyes. He stepped forward, pulling out a knife, as if he was going to cut Peter down from them. Ned was going to get Peter killed, oh god—
Frank tucked the knife back into his pocket. He dropped his kit onto the floor, and gave Michelle and Ned a hard look.
"I was called here for this?" Frank wasn't impressed. Not at all.
Ned might just die. He could feel his organs slowly fading, dying out. They were no longer working. He was going to just flop over and move across the floor like a fish on land. They shouldn't have called. They should have let Peter's spider powers heal him with no interruption.
Frank continued, "He looks fine. He's not attacking anyone or dying." The bar was low, huh.
Michelle raised an unimpressed eyebrow. She could battle the Punisher with her will. Ned had never been so proud to call her his best friend. Peter was his best friend too. They were all each other's best friends.
"Are those the only cases when you'll intervene?" Michelle asked.
Frank gave the barest bob of his head in confirmation. "Yep, sounds 'bout right. I'm not enhanced. I don't know anything about the kid's mutations—or whatever the hell happened to him. If he's having a bug boy freak out, and it's not harming anyone, I can't help you."
"He's– He's an arachnid," Ned said, speaking to the Punisher for the first time. "He's not a bug."
Frank shook his head. He looked heavy with stress or grief, or both. "I don't give two damns 'bout that." He smiled, showing his teeth. "Hell, I don't give one damn."
The Punisher picked up his aid kit, and began to walk out. Ned met Michelle's gaze, and for a moment, they aligned. They couldn't let Frank leave them when they were wholly unprepared for what was happening.
"S– Sir!" Ned yelped. "Please don't go."
Frank cocked his head toward them. He wasn't in a rush to leave, yet he was going to anyway. He finished whatever he was doing. Ned wasn't sure what Frank needed to get back to, but there was no way it was more important than Peter's life.
"Can you—" Ned sucked in a breath. "Will you stay? Just… till he wakes up."
Everything about Frank's body language told Ned that he wasn't going to stay. Frank looked at Michelle and Ned, then raised his gaze to Peter. He then looked up higher—toward the heavens—and then set down his head.
"Alright," Frank agreed. He dusted off one of his thighs with his hand. "What do you have to eat around here?"
Ned smiled triumphantly.
Two hours passed, and it was the most awkward yet endearing two hours of Ned's life. He never expected to see the Punisher sit at his kitchen counter, or eat grapes one at a time, popping them into his mouth and then judging how good they were.
Michelle was much less worried about Frank's company. She had experienced it once. Ned hadn't, and he was still freaking out over it. He called in sick for tomorrow. He wasn't going to come down from this weird mixture of a high anytime soon.
However, just as night began to fall, there was a ripping sound. Frank noticed it first. He set down his glass of water and slipped off of the stool with practiced ease.
Ned quickly followed, coming in just in time to watch Peter flail around before crashing onto the floor.
"Ow…" Peter groaned pitifully.
It looked like it hurt, but Peter didn't move and there was no snapping sound. Ned hoped that meant there were no broken bones. He might cry if Peter cocooned to heal, only to get injured again right after.
When Peter finally rolled over, Frank was there, hovering. "What the… Frank, why are you here?"
"What, you can stay at my place, but I can't stay at yours?" snapped Frank.
Peter frowned. It was one of Peter's confused faces, if Ned recalled correctly. Ned then remembered that Peter was probably still half-asleep and trying to decipher everything that had happened.
Peter did not get up from the floor. "Am I at my apartment?"
Frank grunted, not giving Ned or Michelle a second glance. "I assumed so…"
Ned hopped in to say, "No. You're at ours."
Peter furrowed his brow, looking over at Ned like he hadn't noticed him or Michelle yet. He didn't move to get up even once some recognition filled his eyes. It was slightly concerning, but Ned had other things to focus on.
Frank stepped closer to Peter. Michelle came up to Ned from behind. They held hands as Frank's brow raised. Ned clutched Michelle's hand tightly, so worried that this was about to blow up in their face.
The Punisher asked Peter, "Do you feel like you're going to attack anyone?"
"No…?" Peter blinked blearily. His eyes were normal, thank god, but his brain still wasn't completely online.
"Good." Frank turned on his heel, but kept his upper body turned toward Peter. "Make sure to only let your partners call me in real emergencies." Ned couldn't process what Frank was implying, and since Michelle didn't react, he didn't either.
"Yeah?" Peter's voice was airy. "Okay, I'll get riiiight on that."
He wouldn't remember to, but Michelle definitely already wrote down Frank's number from Peter's phone, so it was fine.
Frank left, but he left his aid kit behind. Ned had a feeling it was a sign of support for him and Michelle. They were probably going to be dealing with bizarre shit for the rest of their lives. Not that Michelle and Ned were against that.
They would always support Peter.
"Hey guys," Peter moaned, still not moving from off the floor. He did wiggle around though, so he was positioned on their rug instead of the hardwood.
"Hey, dork," Michelle said, though she looked so relieved that it reminded Ned of high school.
Ned just waved, not letting himself speak. He couldn't. He was still in shock from not only surviving an encounter with a spider-focused Peter, but also holding a conversation with the Punisher.
He couldn't even brag about this on Reddit. No one would believe him.
At least Peter smiled and waved back at him.