Tom Holland/Peter Parker oneshots

goodbye | p.p.

The day Kiera heard the news, nothing changed. She had expected, if the day came, that something would happen immediately, like standing on rail tracks with a train hurtling towards her.

Instead, it hit her bit by bit. Each time she went to celebrate with him and he wasn't there. When they finished a fight and she turned to congratulate him, only to find empty air. Each time, a knife would pierce her already porous heart.

The worst days were the ones where she forced herself out of bed and to school. Walking down the hallways without him there was the strangest experience that almost never failed to bring Kiera to tears. Others would say she was weak for it, but deep down she knew he thought she was strong for still soldiering on.

It didn't help matters when Ned and MJ decided she was too broken, too cracked to ever be repaired. Books were her only refuge, yet the library brought memories of laughter and happiness that could never be repeated.

It was rare to see Kiera without tear stains on her cheeks, causing her to earn the nickname 'crying beauty.' The days she didn't hear the cruel tone of her fellow classmates calling after her were counted as victories.

The world got so lonely that Kiera, multiple times, wondered what it would be like to see him again, spend the rest of eternity together. He would never push her away or call her mean names. He would have comforted her in times of trouble, not abandon her and drive her away from school and into hiding.

Her absences became more common than her presence at school, and only a handful of teachers noticed. The next day she was at school, she got a special visitor. Tony Stark, talking to her at school. People couldn't help but notice her now.

Seeing him walk down the halls, she imagined Peter standing next to him, smiling the entire time. His smile would never fade from her memory, especially the glint in his eye when he saw any of his personal heroes.

Seeing Tony reminded Kiera of Peter's laughter filling the Avengers compound daily. The sound of his laughter was always music to her ears, and she could never get enough of it. Anything she did that made him laugh, she would do it again. And again. And again. Any chance to hear that sweet sound she took.

Tony reminded her of the battles won and lost. After each one, no matter the outcome, he would run to check on her, engulfing her in a bear hug. The feeling of his arms around her always brought a smile to her face, even in the darkest of times. In those terrible moments, his hugs were especially needed for a shoulder to cry on.

His arms wrapped around her, lending her the shoulder she greatly needed. After a moment, she realised that the hug she was feeling wasn't from Peter, but instead Tony. Peter was gone, and nothing she could do would bring him back.

No words needed to be exchanged, the mirrored tear stains on their cheeks confirmation enough. Pain stabbed at the pair's hearts, tearing at their soul, wanting them to never love again. Tony's arms were strong, maybe even stronger than Peter's, but they were no replacement for what she had lost.

She had lost one of her best friends, the only person she felt she could confide in. Without him, she had no one. She had lost the person who had put her together, the only one who had ever tried other than her mother.

One of her first ever memories was her father, walking through the airport away from the rest of his family. 

She had met Peter not long after - a boy who didn't care that she only had one parent, but instead saw her as a girl who was willing to do anything for him. When she decided to travel across the country to see her missing father, he didn't stop her, knowing what this meant to her. He did, however, warn her of the possibility that this would not turn out in her favour, but never brought it back up when he realised how much she needed this. Needed the closure, no matter how severe it was going to be. Yet, when she got home, tears pouring down her cheeks, he never once said "told you so."

Instead, he held her as she cried. Cried for her father, cried for her mother. Cried for the fact that, although her mother tried her best, she only had one parent who wanted her, only one that would ever support her accomplishments, support her in her failures. He held her through it all, lending a shoulder anytime she needed it.

When word got out that the person behind the Spiderman mask was her best friend, suddenly he was back. Her lousy excuse for a father didn't care that he'd missed the most important years of his daughter's life, only that she was now mildly famous, the girlfriend to the well-known superhero.

Running away from him was the easiest choice Kiera ever made, running straight into Peter's waiting arms.

"How dare he try to come back now, after everything, to just be a part of my life again?" Kiera lamented one afternoon as they lazed in the sun. "What makes he think he can do that?"

Instead of tearing into her - "How dare you not even love your own father, he tried his best" - Peter calmly responded, allowing the blame to fall elsewhere. Not on Kiera, not on her father. He may not like the man, but he was still Kiera's father after everything. He never made the best decisions, but everyone needs a second chance.

A sad smile appeared on Kiera's face as she remembered that afternoon, the day she unknowingly decided to allow her father back into her life. Living with him was hell after that, knowing what he had done, so she made him leave once more. But nothing lost, nothing gained.

"I hate you so much you know?" Her voice was quiet in the silent cemetery, her fingers running along the sharp words. "I hate you for leaving me. I hate you for being selfless and sacrificing yourself. But most I hate you for being un-hatable."

With that, she turned around and made her way through the gravestones, Peter behind her. It was time, although she knew she could never forget, to forgive and let go.