Fade - A Marvel Fanfiction

Part 2 - Civil War - Prelude

"What happened to you?"

"There was a robbery and I underestimated how many thugs there were. Got cut a few times." Peter explains.

"Any bullet wounds?" I ask. The boy shakes his head. I pull at some of the torn fabric, causing Peter to wince. The wounds were deep, but I could stitch them myself and he would be fine. 

"I'm going to need you to take your shirt off," I say while quickly getting off the bed. If I asked him to do this any other time, we would both become an awkward mess. But this time, it was different.

Without another word, I slip into my bathroom. Crouching in front of the cabinet that holds the sink, I collect the items needed to stitch Peter's chest back together. Grabbing all of my items, I walk back into my room to see a shirtless Peter falling asleep sitting up. Sitting beside him once again, I tap his cheek a few times to wake him up. 

"Come on, I need you awake for this," I say to a sleepy Peter. Nothing I did completely woke him up until I sat beside him and began to clean his wounds. The stinging pain woke him up and he groaned in both annoyance and pain causing me to chuckle quietly. I then pushed him up against the headboard of my large bed and finish cleaning him up.  After I had completely cleaned up most of the blood, I prepared the needle and thread. 

"This is gonna hurt," I said once I was ready. Knowing the pain all too well, I offer Peter my hand and he looks at me like I'm crazy.

"You can stitch one-handed?" he asks, probably forgetting about the description behind my name.

"No. But I trust that what you're about to see you won't say to another soul. Especially at school." I answer. 

"I promise," Peter says, still a little uncertain by what might happen.

Peter's hand grabs onto mine and squeezes once in confirmation. The needle then floats away from my left hand as I guide it into the swollen skin around the wound. Using my left hand to aid the needle, I slowly stitch Peter's chest back together. After a little while, the once gaping wounds that were strewn across his chest were closed. Then, I float the needle onto my bedside table and begin to clean up the mess... one handed. Once I realize that our hands are still joined, I look up to see Peter passed out asleep, giving me an easy escape. With my other hand freed,  I return my supplies to their appropriate places while also grabbing some gauze.

Returning to my previous spot beside Peter, I wrap his chest in all the gauze I had while he began to regain consciousness. Once I was done, I heard Peter say something but it was too quiet for me to hear.

"What did you say?" I ask.

"I said thank you," Peter whispers, a crooked smile on his face. 

"It's no problem. Besides, I need to keep up the practice." I reply quickly. After his chest was completely wrapped up, Peter stupidly tries to stand up beside my bed. He instantly tips over, barely giving me any time to catch him.  I carefully push him back onto my bed, wracking my brain of anything I could do to help him. Nothing comes to mind.

"I'm fine, Erin. I need to get home to May." Peter urges.

"No, Peter! I'm not going to let you leave my room if you can barely stand up." I say. Crouching under my bed, I pull a few pillows that had been stored under there. I then helped Peter sit up, surrounding him in pillows just in case he fell over again. After that, I grab the small quilt from my bed as well as my favourite pillow, setting them on the floor.

"You don't have to do tha-" Peter begins.

"Shut up, Parker. Your injured, you get the bed." I interrupt. Surprisingly, he decides to stay quiet for several hours while I try to go to sleep. But, of course, the questions Peter had were bursting at the seams.

"How did you get those powers?" Peter whispers. I sit up from my position on the floor and bring my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them.

"It's a long story," I mumble. 

"Well, I'm not going anywhere." Peter jokes, but little did he know I was not in the joking mood. I stay silent for a few minutes, hoping that he gets the message that I don't want to talk. Sounds of movement fill my ears as Peter slowly moves off the bed. I quickly get up to stop him but the boy grabs my arm and tugs me onto the bed. The both of us giggle at his sudden burst of confidence but we soon return to silence. Peter lays opposite to me, a small pillow barricade keeping the space I need between us.

"It's okay, Erin. You can trust me." Peter whispers from beside me. With a deep intake of breath, I begin to speak.

__________________________

Hours later, both Peter and I had shared our stories. How he gained his abilities and how I gained mine. How the people we lost have formed us into the people we are today.  Both of us have our backs against my headboard, the silence welcome between us. As the clock on my bedside table shows 5:30, the sun's morning rays shine brightly throughout my room. I turn lazily on my side and pull Peter's bandages away to see that most of the swelling had gone down.

"I think it's safe for you to leave now," I whisper. 

I feel Peter nod in agreement as he slowly drags himself off my bed. At first, he is a little shaky standing up, but after a few minutes, he was steady. I get off my bed as well, opening my window to let him leave in peace. I slowly turn around to see him right behind me. We stand in that position for a few moments before Peter tentatively wraps his arms around me. After a few seconds, I wrap mine around his neck.

"Thank you," he whispers. 

"It's no problem," I reply.

Once we separate, Peter quickly throws on his homemade mask before jumping out of my window. Just as he was about to swing off, I yell:

"Hey, Spiderboy!"

My voice gets his attention as he quickly turns around to meet my face.

"Don't tell anyone about this. At school, I'm still Sarah." I say.

"And outside of school?" Peter asks cautiously. I wait a few moments before answering.

"That's for you to decide." I subtly challenge. Peter softly nods his head and positions himself to swing off. He shoots a web from his wrist and grabs onto it with steady hands. Before he drops off the side of the building, he turns to me and says:

"It's Spiderman by the way."

And then he swings away. I slowly close my window, a large smile stuck on my face. Looking at the ceiling, I call out to FRIDAY.

"You called, Ms. Stark?" the A.I. responds.

"All security measures can be reinstated," I confirm.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Stark. But all of the security measures have been active since 1:09 AM." FRIDAY responds.

"What do you mean? I shut everything off!" I yell.

"It seems that Mr.Stark was able to override your commands and make all security systems operational," she replies.

"Son of a-"