Peter Parker x Reader

12 - light in his eyes

"No!" you yelled and threw the cushion at Peter, who was lying on the same couch as you, but on the opposite side, so your feet pointed at his face, and his feet pointed at your face. Peter bursted in laughter. In fact, he choked on the laughter, and interrupted your pointless and childlike arm crossing and pouting. You ran to get some water and gave it to Peter. "That's what you get," you said, still pretending to be mad, sitting on the couch arm, to Peter's comfort, "don't you ever switch channels again." "I literally almost died," Peter smiled, looking up at you, with the innocent attitude his eyes always carried, "we'll watch your show, whatever it was". "Nah, it's probably already over," you shrugged, genuinely a little upset, "let's just sleep." As you were walking to get some sheets for Peter to sleep in, you heard him get to his feet. "Y/n," Peter whispered behind you, as you were taking out the sheets from a cabinet, making you jump a little. You sighed, and turned around, and Peter took this as his cue to keep talking, "can we stay up a little longer?". You couldn't recognize the strain and almost sad tone in Peter's voice, and so as his eyes flickered a little, you put your hand on his shoulder, noticing the heat beating out of his body; clearly something was bothering him. You curved your eyebrows in a worried but questioning look. "You good Peter?" you finally blurted out. Peter hadn't moved, and his eyes were fixated to the floor, making you worry even more. You had never seen Peter like this throughout your six-year long friendship, but you were glad he was able to confide in you. "I just need company" Peter whispered, strain threatening to kill his voice, eyes still on the ground. Finally, Peter looked up, and at once you noticed his red and teary eyes. His big eyes used to burn like a candle in excitement and passion, but it seemed like the candle had been blown out. Hopelessness was the only thing you could read from the smoke the candle in his eyes now produced. "D-did something happen while I was getting these sheets?" you said, now tearing up yourself, and making unauthorized arm and hand motions, not knowing what to do, "I don't understand." "No, I-" Peter sighed, "can't we just hang out in the living room? I don't want to sleep." You nodded in empathy, handed him the sheets, excused yourself and hurried to the bathroom to clean yourself up, and to figure out why Peter was feeling this way.

When you came back from the bathroom, you saw Peter surrounded by sheets on the couch in the darkness of the living room, just staring at the wall. "Hey," you said softly and smiled, waving at the threshold "feeling better?". "Don't worry about me," Peter brushed off, clearly forcing a smile, "come sit". Peter patted beside him on the couch and gestured for you to sit there. "Just a sec." you excused yourself and went to the kitchen to grab some candles and a lighter, in hopes of lighting up Peter's candle in his eyes. You placed the lit candles on the table in front of the couch and felt Peter's eyes burning at your back. You couldn't be sure, but it felt like Peter had been looking at you the whole time lighting up the candles, and it made you feel a little uncomfortable, yet worried. You finally got up, and sat down beside Peter, who freed himself from the sheets to snuggle you in with him. You two were now just looking at the wall, not really talking. After a while, you felt Peter head fall on your shoulder in a stud and snuggled a little tighter. You placed your hand on his hair, playing a little with it, trying to make him fall asleep. Peter had never acted like this. He had been fine, when you two were sitting and watching TV. Suddenly it hit you. Peter didn't want to sleep. He was afraid to sleep; the only thing that frightened the superhero. You remembered Peter once telling you the things he had seen, and you shivered in the memory of the conversation. Peter had feared seeing the terrible things he had seen and still sees being Spiderman. You felt Peter's breaths lengthen, as his head let go of all its weight. You gently replaced his head on your shoulder and closed your eyes. And although you weren't sitting very comfortably, you felt so comfortable having Peter by your side, sheets hiding you both in your company, and the candles soft flickers calming you down.