💕Better Off As Lovers💕 (peter parker x reader)

part 4

Basically, it was an awesome suit, but I'd never worn it to a real life battle before. Sure, I'd tried it on and posed in front of the mirror trying to break it in, but that was just for fun. This was serious, and I would be using this suit for much for than just making funny faces in the mirror.

When I'd finally slipped it on, I took a deep breath. My heart was racing and my stomach kind of felt like jelly, but I shoved it all down. I needed to be strong, not just for the Avengers, but for myself. I couldn't be having a mental breakdown right before a battle, my first battle to be clear. I remembered Peter and his promise, that he would be with me every step of the way. And I knew Tony and the others would rather throw themselves off cliffs rather than let any of us get hurt. Everyone was fighting for each other. It was going to be okay.

I pulled my mask over my face, breathing in deeply with the help of the special material of the mask. I turned on all the sensors programmed into the mask, including night vision, an energy level tracker, and a special program that Tony invented to help me with my shifting. Basically, I had to think about what I wanted to shift into, and the suit would provide me with millions of pieces of data to help me get into the mindset for the shift. Tony was brilliant.

I headed out the door and down the hall, feeling cold sweat gather at the back of my neck, though the material of my suit was installed with miniature coolers to prevent overheating.

I found the Avengers gathered in the kitchen looking exceptionally tough with their weapons and stony expressions, like they were already thinking about the best recipe for serving bad guy stew. Well, except for Peter, standing off to the side in his suit. His mask was off, and he kept shifting from foot to foot, looking around at everyone with these wild eyes that I'd never seen before. He was pale too, and by the way he was hunched over ever so slightly, I could tell that the wound in his abdomen was still not fully healed.

"Hey, guys," I said, leaning against the counter.

Everyone turned to me, and I felt like shrinking into the granite countertops. Thor chomped his maple brown sugar Pop Tart rather loudly, echoing throughout the silent room. Tony was the first to acknowledge me, stepping forward through the crowd, clad only in his Iron Man suit with no helmet.

He didn't look so good. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his face was shadowed with a pasture of dark stubble. His hair was dirty, and by his eyes I could tell that he had been hitting the bottle lately.

He said my name in sort of a croak, which didn't exactly reassure me. "Y/n, there's something I need to tell you," he confessed.

"Is there?" I said, perhaps a little too sarcastically, pulling my mask off. "Does it have anything to do with the attack supposedly targeted at me that's happening very soon?"

Uneasy glances were shared between the heroes and Tony's brows furrowed. "How did you ..."

"Look, I overheard your conversation with Nat yesterday," I said. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Tony sighed. "I didn't want to worry you, okay? I know that you'd never been in a real battle before, and I wasn't sure how you would take it, and I didn't want to scare you but—"

"So when did you think I was going to find out?" I challenged. "When they— whoever they refers to— whisks me away and kills me?"

The words spilled from my mouth, no filter to keep them back.

He looked down, ashamed, which only made me feel worse. I tried to cover it up by apologizing, but he just waved my sorrys away.

"No, you're right," he decided. "I should have told you earlier. I should have known that you were stronger than I thought. And I'm sorry, okay?"