Warnings: character deaths, angst( though just a bit).
"Nat!" Peter shouted when he saw his parental figure fall.
He ran to her taking out HYDRA agents as he went. He finally reached her with a trail of bodies behind him. He didn't allow himself to freeze up when he saw her condition.
She had blood gushing out of her side from a bullet wound and her body was littered in cuts and bruises. He tried to lift her up but she stopped him.
"I'm not gonna make it Peter," she said softly.
Tears filled his eyes and he shook his head, "No. Don't say things like that, your gonna be okay."
He fell on his knees and sat down on his legs. She placed a hand on his cheek and smiled. "Don't worry my little spider."
Her gaze shifted to the night sky as she lowered her hand. A tear fell from her eye. "The stars are so pretty. I can never see them back home."
"Yeah," Peter agreed as he looked up at the stars, "There's too much light pollution."
"I love you Peter, your the best thing that ever happened to me. Don't ever forget that," Natasha said her voice barely above a whisper.
Tears blurred Peter's vision and he blinked them away. "I love you too."
He looked down at her. Her eyes were blank and her chest had stopped moving. He tears filled his eyes again and he chocked back a sob.
He shifted his position and instead pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. He rocked back and forth as he stared at her lifeless form.
Memories flooded his brain as if to mock him of what he wasn't gonna have ever again.
***
five-year-old Peter Parker shivered from the cold. He curled in on himself to keep warm. He was in the warmest alley he could find. All he had to wear was a tattered t shirt and a pair of shorts. He covered himself with a jacket he had found in the trash.
It was winter and he couldn't thermoregulate so by the time the week was over he would have died of hypothermia.
When he heard footsteps approaching he held his breath and prayed that whoever it was wouldn't notice him. A bunch of petty thugs liked to mess with him for fun and occasionally beat him up..
"Hey, would you look at that. It's the little pip-squeak," somebody said. Their speech was slurred, they were definitely drunk.
Somebody grabbed the jacket that was keeping him warm and threw it off him. A hand grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up so he was dangling a few centimeters from the ground.
He screamed and tried to beat away the hand that had a hold of him. He received a punch to the gut which effectively shut him up.
"That's right brat, keep that little mouth closed if you know what good for you," another drunkard's voice said.
"If you know what's good for you you'll leave that kid alone," another voice said. It was different from the rest. It was a woman's voice and it wasn't slurred either.
"Would you look at that, we've got a pretty lady trying to save this brat. Go home this is no place for a girl."
Peter kept his eyes shut tight. He was thrown aside and he curled into a protective ball. All he could here was fighting.
He didn't move even when the fighting stopped and all that he could hear was groans of pain. He flinched when someone placed their hand on him.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," the woman from before said. "You must be cold."
He heard her unzip her jacket before she wrapped it around him. He stiffened when she picked him up.
"Don't worry, I'm gonna help you," the woman said softly.
Peter wasn't sure if he should trust her but he didn't protest. This was the only help he had been offered since the incident, he definitely wasn't gonna turn it down.
She walked for a while. At some point Peter was sure she had entered a building. She finally placed him on a soft couch.
He slowly opened his eyes. The woman was kneeling in front of him scanning him for injuries, at least he thought that she was doing.
She had red shoulder-length curls and green eyes. She smiled at him.
"What's your name kid?" she asked as she brushed his hair back with her hands.
Peter trusted her so he replied, "Peter Parker."
***
"Hey Pete, I know what will make you fell better. A movie and ice cream," Nat said.
Peter had just found out his boyfriend was cheating on him. He wanted to be alone and Nat had left him alone for some time but now she wanted to make him feel better.
He lifted the blanket a bit and looked up at her with red puffy eyes.
"You have a bit of blood on your cheek," he grumbled.
"What? That's just ketchup," she said as she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and rubbed both her cheeks.
"Did you kill him?"
"No...but I can't say he wasn't begging for death when I was done."
This got a smile out of him. He sat up. "I'm not coming with you if its not chocolate flavor."
Nat smiled, "Of course its chocolate, you think I would forget?"
***
Peter checked himself out in the mirror. He was in a black suit, white shirt, a blue tie and black converse. Nat was standing behind him in a smug smile.
"When you walk in that sad excuse of a boyfriend will regret cheating on you," she said, "You have to pick Ned in a few minutes so you should leave now. Your dropping me off at his place, I have a women's night with his mum. And I want you guys to have space for some after prom fun. Just don't do it on the couch."
"Nat," Peter said as his face heat up, "We aren't gonna do that."
She rolled her eyes, "Sure and I'm not gonna get Ned's mother drunk."
***
Black suit, white shirt and a blue tie. Nat had gotten him this suit for prom. It only seemed fit for her funeral.
Peter was at the back. He didn't want to be in the way. All her friends were there, they never knew about him and Peter thought it would be better that way.
Maria walked up to him before they lowered her body into the ground. She stood next to him without saying anything.
"Why are you acting like a stranger?" Maria asked, "She saw you as a son, she would want you to meet her friends."
Tears flowed out of Peter's eyes and he quickly wiped them away, "She saw me as a son?"
Maria faced him, "I knew her longer than you but you always had a special place in her heart."
They fell into silence again.
"She could never have her own kids because of the red room," Maria said softly, "I could tell she wanted to be a mother... When she met you she had a chance at something she had been stripped from in her past. I can't tell you how man times she blew of missions just to spend time with you."
"When you joined SHIELD she had been thinking about retiring. But she stayed so she could keep an eye on you. You owe her a goodbye."
Peter chocked down a sob and nodded. He took small unsure steps towards the coffin. The avengers and a few agents stared at him as he moved forward. He stopped in front of the wooden box. He placed a shaky hand on the cold wood.
"Bye...mum," he said softly, "I love you."
He pulled his hand away and it fell at his side. He turned around and walked away. He left the graveyard and took a taxi to his apartment.
It looked the same. It had the same safe and warm feel but it felt less like home now with her gone. Peter leaned against the door and wiped away his tears.
He could imagine what she would say if she was here. Probably something like, "Sure I know I'm gone but if you keep dwelling on that then you will just be sad and that will make me sad. So for the sake of both of us, move on."
Moving on. Peter had to work on that.
1444: words.