Bullets || Peter Parker

Epilogue

Emil stood waiting outside the doors to Midtown as students streamed past him. He was busy typing a text to Bucky on his phone, paying no attention to his surroundings. Bucky had sent him a silly video of Steve having a stare off with their cat. The tortoise-shell, who Emil had been given the honour of naming Catsby, was a new feature to their home. Steve and Bucky adored her.

After everything had settled the pair officially retired. They moved out to Bucky's house in Wakanda and now worked on the farms surrounding the main city. They would often travel a lot though, going on trips to asia or back round America. T'Challa and Sam still came to them on hero advice but they were officially civilians. Emil visited whenever he could, freely welcome. He would sometimes bring Peter and May, once May had gotten used to teleporting. He would bring them back to the tower, or visit them for holidays and celebrations. It was safe to say that both men were enjoying civilian life. They got to explore and experience the modern day world at their own pace. He was glad for them.

Emil laughed as Catsby ruffled his tail and promptly tipped a glass over the edge of the table. Steve gasped, breaking the staring contest, as it crashed to the floor. The video shook as Bucky sniggered before cutting off. Emil sent a laughing face back. (Bucky had only just got the hang of texting. Emil was trying to introduce him to emojis. It was having some success until Shuri began helping). Bucky replied with a running man, a explosion and a laughing cat face. Emil had no idea what that meant. Maybe he should just leave the emoji's alone.

Hands wound their way around his waist and a weight settled in at his side. Emil grinned and turned his head just as Peter kissed him on the cheek. "Hey. How was Spanish?" He asked as Peter rested his head on his shoulder.

"Urgh Aburrido, te extraño. How was art?"

Emil tucked his phone into his pocket and interlaced his fingers with Peter's. The two of them walking down the school steps, just two more teens on their way home. "It was cool. Ms Todd didn't really mind what we did as long as we kept to the required tools. You can flick through my sketchbook later if you want".

Peter hummed in response as they reached the corner of the school building. It was a gap between the gym and the main building, far away from sight and the popular entrances. There was no windows in that corner, or any cameras. Every student knew about it. A quick place for a smoke or to hide from teachers. Dingy exposed brick and littered cigarette buts. Not the most romantic place in the world. But it was the most normal and lest likely to be intruded upon.

Emil grinned wickedly as Peter tugged him into the corner. His arms automatically wrapping around his waist, bodies pressed against each other in the enclosed space. Peter chuckled as he reached up, Emil leaning down at the same time. They kissed languidly. A easy and welcome action. They parted after a long moment, breaths dusting each other's cheeks.

"Home?" Emil asked.

"Yeah. So glad it's Friday", Peter sighed. A flash of light lit up the dark and now empty corner.

They appeared in the large living room of the tower. Light and noise from the city below softened through the glass windows. Emil stepped back and dropped his heavy backpack onto the large leather sofa with a sigh. He dropped down next to it, sprawling over the back of the sofa. His legs dangling on the back and head hanging of the edge. Peter didn't react to the weird position, all too used to Emil's lack of normality. He placed his own backpack on the coffee table and sat down next to him.

"Hey boys, how was school?" May asked as she came strolling in.

"Hi May", Emil waved. "It was okay. School is school. Five years didn't change it at all". Five years had not changed the dynamics of high school at all. Due to his coma and non-ageing, Emil had been listed as one of the missing. This meant that he was technically recorded as dead for five years. It also meant that when everyone came back, he had to return to school with the rest of the population.

"Take out for dinner?" May asked as she typed something in her phone. Her charity was doing well. She was pretty busy but enjoyed her work. Happy had also been hanging around lately, which Peter was weirded out by.

"Chinese?" Peter suggested as he kicked his feet up onto the coffee table.

May didn't look up from her typing. "Peter Benjamin Parker, get your feet off the coffee table". Peter groaned but shifted anyway.

Emil began picking at the synthetic skin covering half his face and neck. Blue lightning scars were not something he could walk around with every day. Luckily Shuri had made him a skin like covering which stuck on like a plaster and mimicked his natural skin tones. It worked for school but Emil would much rather go without it. He hissed as it pulled on his skin. Peter reached over and batted his hands away. He began removing it himself, in slow gentle thugs that didn't hurt as much. While Peter was busy removing the ones on his face, Emil turned his attention to the ones covering his right arm. Luckily this one was more like a glove and was easier to remove.

"Your scars always look so cool", Peter commented as the coverings were removed. Emil smiled at him as he flexed his fingers. Blue lines moving hypnotically with the movement.

"Chinese sounds good. Can I have some spicy squid?" He called up to May. She nodded and began taking down their usual orders.

"You boys patrolling tonight?" She asked as she sat on the couch and reached for the tv remote, phone now off.

"Yeah. Ned's coming over in the morning so we can do homework together, so we should be back by twelve", Peter answered.

May nodded. "Well dinner will be here for seven". Emil smiled and closed his eyes. Peter's hand still resting on his cheek. In the background a movie started playing. A sweet soundtrack and voices narrating. The end of the movie just playing softly as the three people watched and listened.

"This one moment when you know you're not a sad story.
You are alive.
And in this one moment, I swear, we are infinite."

Emil rested his head against Peter's knee and closed his eyes. A soft contented smile on his face as Peter ran his fingers through his hair. It was a domestic scenes and he couldn't be happier. He had a home. A family, no matter how chaotic, their ragtag group. Someone who loved him and who he loved back. And the universe stretched out in front of him.

Tomorrow might be different. There were still things to deal with, life's obstacles to sort out. Next weeks homework or bank robbery to deal with. But Emil didn't care. In this moment, all the struggling and the pain he had been through seemed worth it.

He tugged in Peter's hand and pressed his lips to the palm. Peter shifted and leaned down to kiss Emil's forehead. He could feel him smile as he pulled away. Emil sighed happily.

Yes. It was worth it. He wouldn't have it any other way. 

Unedited